"We don't offer Vaseline for that."California’s judicial-watchdog-agency has formally charged a rookie San Diego judge with multiple counts of misconduct after she snagged an audition with the producers of a Peoples Court style realty show—and then clowned for the cameras set up in her courtroom for the audition.
According to the complaint, the California Commission on Judicial Performance—who has the power to remove a judge from the bench—alleges that Judge DeAnn Salcido had her courtroom proceedings filmed as an audition for a television show and on camera and off clowned for the show’s producers in her own courtroom, without telling defendants and their counsel what was going on.
The two bizarre days in Judge Salcido’s courtroom were preceded by her email to an entertainment lawyer admitting that she had been "setting my more interesting defendants and those with substance abuse issues" for a certain day she said would be a good day for the show’s producers to drop by and see her honor in action.
What the show’s producers saw and heard was, among other things, the following statement by Judge Salcido to a defendant:
“What that means is don't come before the court on another case ...'cause you will definitely be screwed and we don't offer Vaseline for that."
Talking a page from Jerry Springer’s playbook, Judge Salcido repeatedly encouraged audience participation in her courtroom – by having them chant slogans such as "woo woo woo", for example when she accused a defendant of being high on marijuana.
Her honor also got laughs from the courtroom gallery by throwing out one liners, such as the Jamie Foxx classic "Blame it on the a-a-a-a-alcohol."
Not even Judge Salcido's colleagues on the bench escaped her sarcasm, at one point targeting fellow judge Peter Gallagher:
“Ah, Judge Gallagher, aka assistant public defender ... Is that ridiculous that Judge Gallagher did that. I mean it's a sex offender case. Yeah, whatever, you know. A DV statute says it's mandatory but, you know,
we're the judge, we can do what we want. Quote. Justice be damned."
Pulling no punches in her naked attempt to leverage her election to the bench into a high paying television career, her honor even had a defendant cuffed and taken to jail, on-the-spot for allegedly being in contempt of court.
Other courtroom outtakes referenced by the CJP its complaint included:
“When a defendant appeared in court wearing an Oakland Raiders jersey, you remarked, "You did not come in here with that shirt," and asked, "Which door do you want to go out with, that's the Charger door [the public exit], that's the Raider door [the door for defendants going into custody]?" You then said, "Chargers door? Raiders door? Chargers door? Raiders door?", and repeatedly asked the defendant which door he wanted to go through when he left. You remarked, "365 days of the year I'm a Chargers fan. Hello, we don't take a break." You asked a woman present in the courtroom who was connected with the case, "Would you say he's smart, coming here in a Raiders shirt? No? What does that say about you, Dena, and the kind of men you pick?"
“You commented that defendant Tyrone McCoy was smiling, and then remarked to him that "they might like your smile in jail," to which the audience responded with a loud "oooo" and then laughter.”
“Daniel Lopez appeared before you in custody and admitted a probation violation. You gave him the option of an immediate 60-day jail sentence or reenrolling in a program, but facing a longer jail sentence if he failed to
complete that program. After the defendant said that he wanted to reenroll in the program and his counsel requested a moment to confer with his client, you remarked to the courtroom audience, "You guys know he doesn't want to do that don't you? Yeah. Does he need to call the lifeline? Try to tell him. Let's make a deal. I think he needs to call the lifeline. Yeah. Want to poll the audience? What should he do? Take the deal, take the deal, take the deal. The audience says, of course, the audience isn't going into custody. Really easy for you to tell him to take the deal because you're going to go home tonight and sleep on your pillows." You and the courtroom audience repeatedly laughed at your comments.”
To Judge Gallagher we say: Your 15 minutes of fame are up; please go away now.
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