Retired Orange County Judge Chastised for Rude, Intemperate Remarks -- An appellate court justice was so convinced a snippy email she received from Judge Derek Hunt was a spoof that she contacted her court's security detail.
In one case cited by the CJP’s most recent discipline order, the presiding justice of the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Kathleen O’Leary, vacated Hunt’s decision and issued an order to show cause. The next day, Hunt sent O’Leary a one-sentence email under the subject line “confidential.”
“I may be stupid, but I know when someone is saving face,” the email stated.
O’Leary thought the email must be a spoof of the judge’s account and notified both the Orange County trial court leadership and the California Highway Patrol security detail, according to the commission’s order. Hunt “expressed remorse” for the email and apologized to O’Leary.
And witness disentitlement dodged here (and here):
We agree that the record shows a dismaying pattern of disobedience of court orders, particularly of orders to appear. But Sweeney has at least recently complied with orders to appear, and the record provided to us does not show clearly what, if any, discovery obligations Sweeney is currently avoiding. In the circumstances, we exercise our discretion to decline to apply the drastic remedy of dismissal at the present juncture.
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