Opinion ID: 1172050
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Court Reporter Charges.

Text: (17) Judge Ryan is charged with three instances of prejudicial conduct for failing to provide a court reporter in criminal hearings. The pertinent facts surrounding these matters may be summarized briefly. The court administrator for Placer County advised all members of the court, including Judge Ryan, of the case of In re Armstrong (1981) 126 Cal. App.3d 565 [178 Cal. Rptr. 902], which held that it is a violation of due process and equal protection to deny a verbatim record upon request in all municipal court criminal proceedings. Funds were appropriated in January 1983, for reporters to serve the Municipal Court of Placer County on a daily basis. Judge Ryan took the position that reporters were not required and directed the clerk of his court to discharge the reporters assigned to his courtroom unless a timely request was made for their presence. To ensure that a court reporter would be present in Judge Ryan's courtroom, the district attorney's office began stamping a request for a court reporter on every pleading or motion filed. However, individuals appearing without counsel were not advised of their right to have a reporter, and hence did not know they had to request one. In one incident, Judge Gilbert of the superior court remanded a matter to Judge Ryan because of Judge Ryan's failure to provide a reporter. Judge Ryan telephoned Judge Gilbert to express his disagreement with the latter's decision and stated that reporters were not required and their presence resulted in an unnecessary expense to the county. In the Bremer matter, Judge Ryan accepted defendant's waiver of a preliminary hearing in the absence of a court reporter. The superior court remanded the case back to Judge Ryan because of the omission. The Mitchell matter, discussed previously, involved the judge's unauthorized placement of Mitchell into the work-release program. In a separate disciplinary count against Judge Ryan arising from the same matter, the probation department had requested a reporter at the hearing. The request was denied by Judge Ryan as untimely, because no request had been made prior to the hearing. Finally, the previously discussed Burgess matter involved the charge that Judge Ryan ignored Burgess's request for counsel. As a separate count of improper conduct, it was alleged that the judge failed to provide a court reporter upon return of the bench warrant and that he also sentenced Burgess without a reporter present. In all three of the counts enumerated above (Bremer, Mitchell, and Burgess) the masters and the Commission concluded that the judge committed prejudicial conduct. Judge Ryan contends that Armstrong, supra, 126 Cal. App.3d 565, required verbatim records only upon request, and that he did provide court reporters whenever a timely request was made. Moreover, Judge Ryan points out that he eventually began to provide court reporters on a regular basis after the district attorney and the board of supervisors made it known that reporters were desired. The judge correctly interprets Armstrong as requiring a court reporter upon request. However, he misperceives the significance of his failure to instruct defendants appearing in propria persona that they had a right to a verbatim record. The judge's stubborn and obstructionist attitude effectively denied those defendants their constitutional right to have a reporter present. We concur with the masters and the Commission that Judge Ryan's conduct in these matters was prejudicial.