Ethics
Judge’s ‘disparaging’ courtroom remarks publicly reproved by disciplinary commission
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge who made disparaging remarks and interrupted litigants in court was recently publicly admonished by the state’s judicial disciplinary body for the second time. (Image from Shutterstock)
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge who made disparaging remarks and interrupted litigants in court was recently publicly admonished by the state’s judicial disciplinary body for the second time.
The California Commission on Judicial Performance focused on four 2024 proceedings involving Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Thomas J. Griego.
The commission noted that Griego’s conduct included “interrupting litigants when they attempted to answer his questions; making disparaging, gratuitous remarks, like repeatedly telling a self-represented litigant that a case that was not before him was ‘worthless’ …; abruptly leaving the courtroom in the middle of proceedings; and instructing a courtroom employee to ‘talk to the woman.’”
According to coverage by the Metropolitan News-Enterprise, the commission said the jurist had committed misconduct to his administrative duties after not responding to a preliminary investigation letter sent last May.
Griego argued that prescribed medication that he was taking contributed to his demeanor in court. In 2017, Griego, who has served on the court since 2014, received an advisory letter for independently investigating the scene of a traffic accident and failure to disclose his receipt of ex parte information and disqualify himself.
Nine members of the commission voted for public admonishment this week.
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