An outside judge has rejected a bid by the Yolo County Public Defender’s Office to disqualify Yolo Superior Court Judge Paul Richardson from presiding over a Davis child assault case headed for trial.
In a six-page ruling filed Monday, Stanislaus Superior Court Judge Scott T. Steffen said Deputy Public Defender Martha Sequeira failed to demonstrate that “a person aware of the facts might reasonably entertain a doubt that the judge would be able to be impartial,” as she alleged in a lengthy motion last month.
Specifically, Sequeira’s motion cited two actions by Richardson that she claimed demonstrated bias toward her and her office. One was Richardson’s opposition of two subpoenas seeking his testimony in a gang-related shooting case in which the defendant, Eric Lovett, is charged with making a threatening gesture toward the victim during a preliminary hearing in Richardson’s courtroom.
Richardson prevailed both times, his privately retained attorney initially seeking sanctions against Sequeira following the second subpoena, though that request later was withdrawn after Sequeira argued that it was “excessive” and without legal standing.
The disqualification motion also cited Richardson’s refusal in December to delay the Darnell Dorsey child assault trial at the request of Dorsey’s attorneys, Sequeira and Deputy Public Defender Joseph Gocke, who at that point had not had an opportunity to consult with their medical expert. However, Richardson reversed course several weeks later after finding good cause to postpone the trial.
Steffen noted this in his ruling, saying Richardson’s “willingness to reconsider his original ruling based on new evidence supports a finding that a reasonable person aware of all the facts would have no reason to doubt Judge Richardson’s impartiality.”
“A trial court’s rulings against a party, even when erroneous, do not establish a charge of judicial bias, especially when they are subject to review,” Steffen added.
As for the sanctions issue, Richardson wrote in a response to Sequeria’s motion that he had entrusted his attorneys in the Lovett matter to conduct legal research and develop arguments to quash, or void, the subpoenas, and did not make any recommendations of his own.
“There is no evidence Judge Richardson expressly authorized any of the statements or arguments put forth by his attorneys in support of the sanctions request,” Steffen wrote. “When Judge Richardson learned there was no legal basis for the sanctions request, the request was withdrawn and the attorney who made it replaced.”
Steffen concluded his ruling by noting that Sequeira “has been assigned to other cases currently pending before Judge Richardson and has not filed a challenge for cause in those cases alleging bias or prejudice.”
With both the Dorsey and Lovett trials still pending, Sequeira declined to comment on the decision. Dorsey — accused of fatally beating his girlfriend’s toddler son at her Olive Drive residence in January 2014 — is due in court Friday.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene