Judicial Misconduct

Attorney Gary Dubin was in a Honolulu hospital, sedated and suffering from depression after the death of his son, when U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real had him handcuffed and taken to court -- still in his hospital gown -- to answer charges of failing to file tax returns. Real allowed him to send for clothes but refused to postpone the hearing, recalled Dubin, who had to defend himself in a medicated fog without his case files. Judged guilty by Real after a two-day bench trial, Dubin spent 19 1/2 months in federal prison, while his home went into foreclosure and his credit was ruined by identity thieves.

Without help from a friend, James Mahan might never have become a Las Vegas state judge. Certainly he wouldn't have gotten one of the top judicial jobs in town: a lifetime appointment to the federal bench. Then again, without Mahan, his friend George Swarts would never have gotten to run an Internet porn business, a hotel-casino hair salon or a Southern California software company. Indeed, the careers of Judge James C. Mahan, 62, and his friend George C.

A judge accused of being improperly influenced by former city Cultural Affairs Commissioner Bess Myerson in the divorce case of Carl Capasso, Myerson's companion, faces judicial misconduct charges, it was reported Friday. Quoting anonymous sources, Newsday and the New York Times reported that the state Commission on Judicial Conduct began closed proceedings last month against Justice Hortense Gabel, whose daughter had been hired by Myerson as an aide.

A suspended county judge admitted to signing court papers with names like Adolf Hitler, using profanity in describing other judges and throwing lighted firecrackers into a colleague's office. Judge Richard "Deacon" Jones said during testimony in his judicial misconduct hearing that he was acting out of frustration with his colleagues. The 10-year veteran judge was suspended with pay by the state Supreme Court in November.

Defense attorneys for convicted murderers Lyle and Erik Menendez filed legal papers Friday seeking a new trial for the brothers, contending that the judge in the case erred by refusing to allow the jury to consider possible manslaughter verdicts. The defense claimed, as expected, that Superior Court Judge Stanley M.

The state Commission on Judicial Performance has charged a former Fresno County Superior Court judge with judicial misconduct for allegedly making false and misleading statements while running for reelection. The commission said Vincent J. McGraw, who was defeated in March, denied viewing pornography from his courthouse computer when he was questioned by a Fresno television station during his reelection campaign in February.

A judge in New Orleans who forced employees to work on his reelection campaign and then lied about it was thrown off the bench by the state high court. The justices removed State District Judge C. Hunter King of Orleans Parish from office and barred him from running for a judicial office for at least five years.

Addressing allegations of judicial misconduct for the first time, a retired Orange County judge on Monday admitted acting inappropriately at times but denied giving favorable treatment to defendants represented by a longtime friend. The defense by Judge Luis A.

Superior Court Judge Susanne Shaw, currently under state investigation for alleged judicial misconduct, presided over a 1997 drug case that was dismissed after another judge ruled that she persuaded a defense witness not to testify. The incident, uncovered this week in court documents, is not related to the 12 charges against Shaw that a state commission is now investigating.

The sordid saga of a Tennessee judge who sexually assaulted at least five women in his chambers has taken another strange twist, descending from a high-level dispute about the reach of federal law to a national manhunt for a criminal on the run. Portly ex-judge David W. Lanier, who was freed by one federal court but sent back to prison by the U.S. Supreme Court, has disappeared. This week, the U.S. Marshal's Service issued a "Wanted" poster for his arrest.