James M Brooks

Inside a wire cage in the back of an Orange County courtroom, a middle-aged woman barely a smidgen taller than 4 feet stands up to answer charges of petty theft. "She's a little thing," says Superior Court Judge James M. Brooks. "Is she on her knees?" Without warning, he rises from the bench and puts his hands on his hips as he addresses her, pretending he doesn't believe she can really be so small. "Are you trying to fool me?" he says, unable to keep a straight face. She smiles back at him.

Inside a wire cage in the back of an Orange County courtroom, a middle-aged woman barely a smidgen taller than 4 feet stands up to answer charges of petty theft. "She's a little thing," says Superior Court Judge James M. Brooks. "Is she on her knees?" Without warning, he rises from the bench and puts his hands on his hips as he addresses her, pretending he doesn't believe she can really be so small. "Are you trying to fool me?" he says, unable to keep a straight face. She smiles back at him.

Orange County Superior Court Judge James M. Brooks, no stranger to scoldings by the state judicial commission, was publicly admonished Wednesday for demeaning and intimidating a husband and wife involved in a civil case, and making prejudicial comments to a Syrian woman involved in a separate property dispute.

Orange County Superior Court Judge James M. Brooks has again been reprimanded for misbehaving, this time by a state appeals court that found he acted more like a circus ringleader than an officer of the court during a job discrimination trial that he let devolve into one sideshow after another.

Tucked in among the mudslinging and brochure-mailing contests on Tuesday's ballot are several races involving candidates that most Orange County voters never heard of. The candidates are attorneys seeking election as judge, or 4th District Court of Appeal justices running unopposed and seeking voter confirmation for another term. All of the justices deserve reelection. There is no opposition to any of them, nor is there a reason for any.

Orange County Superior Court Judge James M. Brooks has again been reprimanded for misbehaving, this time by a state appeals court that found he acted more like a circus ringleader than an officer of the court during a job discrimination trial that he let devolve into one sideshow after another.

The presiding judge of Central Municipal Court on Wednesday rejected allegations that his court systematically denied basic constitutional rights to poor defendants and praised the judge who is the target of a formal complaint filed last week with state judicial authorities. In his first public statements about the controversy surrounding Judge Claude E. Whitney, James M.

A judge overseeing one of Orange County's busiest municipal courts systematically prevented poor people from exercising their right to an attorney and ordered those seeking lawyers to return to jail for another week, according to court documents and a formal complaint against the judge. With the knowledge of his boss, Judge Claude E.

Superior Court Judge Harmon G. Scoville on Wednesday ordered four claims deleted from candidate statements filed by two prosecutors running for the same judgeship. Scoville ruled that statements by both Paul S. Robbins and James M. Brooks violated state law that prohibits judicial candidates from attacking competitors in statements printed and circulated by election officials.

Judges Superior Court 2255 of 2255 precincts reporting Office No. 5 Votes % W.W. Bedsworth 250,539 52.7 R.H. Gallivan 224,848 47.2 Central Municipal 379 of 379 precincts reporting Office No. 9 Votes % James M. Brooks 40,197 53.1 Paul S. Robbins 35,451 46.8 North Municipal 639 of 639 precincts reporting Office No. 2 Votes % Betty L. Elias, inc 75,218 54.9 James A. Bates 61,629 45.0 Office No. 3 Votes % Roger B. Robbins 69,924 54.9 Richard E. Behn 57,318 45.

Orange County Superior Court Judge James M. Brooks, no stranger to scoldings by the state judicial commission, was publicly admonished Wednesday for demeaning and intimidating a husband and wife involved in a civil case, and making prejudicial comments to a Syrian woman involved in a separate property dispute.

The presiding judge of Central Municipal Court on Wednesday rejected allegations that his court systematically denied basic constitutional rights to poor defendants and praised the judge who is the target of a formal complaint filed last week with state judicial authorities. In his first public statements about the controversy surrounding Judge Claude E. Whitney, James M.

A judge overseeing one of Orange County's busiest municipal courts systematically prevented poor people from exercising their right to an attorney and ordered those seeking lawyers to return to jail for another week, according to court documents and a formal complaint against the judge. With the knowledge of his boss, Judge Claude E.

Tucked in among the mudslinging and brochure-mailing contests on Tuesday's ballot are several races involving candidates that most Orange County voters never heard of. The candidates are attorneys seeking election as judge, or 4th District Court of Appeal justices running unopposed and seeking voter confirmation for another term. All of the justices deserve reelection. There is no opposition to any of them, nor is there a reason for any.

A man and woman convicted of resisting arrest during an anti-abortion protest opted Wednesday to spend six months in jail rather than accept probation that would have prohibited their participating in similar protests for three years, court officials said Wednesday. Municipal Judge James M. Brooks sentenced Carolyn Martin, 24, of Anaheim and Cuby Valdez of Bloomington in San Bernardino County in connection with the protest at a Tustin medical clinic on April 13, 1990.

Two Orange County prosecutors running for the same judgeship filed separate lawsuits, each alleging that the other made false claims in candidate statements. James M. Brooks and Paul Robbins sought separate court orders for the deletion of allegedly misleading and untrue material from the statements, to be mailed to voters before the Nov. 4 election. Brooks and Robbins are the two runoff candidates for Central Orange County Municipal Judge, District 9. Brooks won 47.6% and Robbins 37.