A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge has been publicly admonished for “improper demeanor” toward two defense attorneys and an “inappropriate” remark to a defendant who had been acquitted, the Commission on Judicial Performance announced Friday.
Connolly was admonished for telling a defendant who had been acquitted that he had “been given a gift from God because there’s no question in my mind that you’re guilty of this crime,” according to the commission’s document, which noted that the remark was “thereby disparaging the jury’s determination that the defendant had not been proven guilty.”
“… Contrary to Judge Connolly’s assertion, a judge does not have a duty to advise a criminal defendant that the defendant has been given the gift of an acquittal. While a judge may encourage a defendant to make better choices and take advantage of opportunities in the future, the judge must not do so at the expense of the jury and its verdict,” the commission found.
The commission also determined that a public admonishment of Judge Patrick E. Connolly was “warranted” due to his “significant prior discipline” — a public admonishment in 2016 and a private admonishment in 2010 — along with “his failure to fully acknowledge that his conduct was inconsistent with the California Code of Judicial Ethics.”
“… Judge Connolly displayed improper demeanor toward two criminal defense attorneys during an arraignment and, in a different criminal case, made an inappropriate remark about the jury’s verdict to a defendant who had been acquitted,” the commission found.
The commission noted that there was “no evidence of provocative conduct by counsel” involving the March 20, 2020, hearing, one day after Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a statewide stay-at-home order as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The judge rebuked one of the attorneys by stating four times that he had not come to the courtroom and interrupted and cut off the other attorney, with the commission concluding that “there is no apparent justification for the judge’s display of impatience and irritation.”
“Judge Connolly’s conduct in both cases was, at a minimum, improper action,” according to the admonishment.
Connolly — who has been a judge since 2009 — was publicly admonished in 2016 for a “course of conduct reflecting embroilment with a criminal defense attorney and for setting multiple post-trial hearings regarding possible contempt charges, which was an abuse of his authority.”
He had also been privately admonished in 2010 for using profanity during a judicial profile interview and in chambers discussions with attorneys, according to the admonishment.