Slap on the Wrist; Slap in the Face

I waited a long time to write this post because I have given it a lot of careful thought. This is one of those posts that I wrestle with and put a lot of time into, but will get less traffic than a post about kittens.

The reality of the fact that we now live in bizarro world (politically speaking) were almost nothing appears to make sense and there is so much uncertainty was the reason I decided to go ahead and write my thoughts down about the local judiciary.

Judicial races are under more scrutiny in this election cycle than others perhaps because of several factors in which the judiciary branch has taken a black eye in El Paso. That is why I chose the imagery I chose for this post - because ALL judges are being impacted by the actions of a few judges.

We've all seen the video by Judge Bonnie Rangel that was part novela, part cheesy defense lawyer commercial, part self-inflicted campaign attack ad.

Judge Mike Herrera had his own divorce in his own court for a very long amount of time. He's also rumored to be considering a stab at one of the County Court at Law courts in order to double-dip on retirement from the state and retirement from the county.

But perhaps the biggest black-eye to the judiciary in recent memory is the findings against District Judge Luis Aguilar of the 243rd District Court. B

efore we go further, this matter is closed. He's had his day in court, so to speak.

I personally really like Judge Aguilar and many of you probably know him from his many appearances on the Buzz Adams Morning Show on KLAQ.

Aguilar is a tough guy. A Marine's Marine. He's really tough on lawyers (which is what led to the complaints) and he's tough on people that get convicted. I've seen him in action. He's no-nonsense.

However, facts are facts. Allegations came to light against him having to do with how he treats people, use of his judicial power, and either not, or improperly, recusing himself from cases.

But personal feelings aside, there were a ton of findings that came out through their self-policing process that stemmed from nine original complaints filed mostly by out-of-town attorneys that had some experience in Judge Aguilar's court. Those complaints begat an investigation and a series of findings.

I mean a lot.

In a 65 point document from the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, the Commission outlines a series of issues with Judge Aguilar including how he improperly handled recusals, should have recused himself and didn't, several contempt of court orders over-turned, issued an order for a prominent El Paso attorney to pay a contempt fine but did so in a way that made it impossible for the fine to be paid in a timely manner.

In his appearance before the State Commission on Judicial conduct Aguilar indicated that he would no longer proceed with show cause hearings, contempt proceedings, or issue arrest warrants for lawyers that are late for proceedings. That, to me at least, is a tacit admission that he shouldn't have been doing so.

The document specifically highlights the opinion of Judge Bañales, who was hearing a case involving a contempt charge issues by Judge Aguilar and his statement in the opinion he issued on the case was something that voters should know.

That is a pretty scathing sentiment coming from a judge about another judge.

And frankly, since we elect judges in this state, it would be naive to think that this report does not have dire political consequences for Aguilar. This report is why Aguilar is going to be in real election trouble this go-around if he ends up with a strong challenger. That report from the State Commission on Judicial Conduct is full of quotes that can be pulled from it that would make a powerful message in a mailer or door hanger against Aguilar.

More on the political implications later.

One thing that was particularly disturbing about the report was the inclusion of complaints about how the judge dealt with the public, that is to say people serving - or part of the selection process for serving - on a jury.

Here's a screen shot of a couple of examples of what I'm referring to:

When you combine it with another incident highlighted in another part of the report about an attorney that was scheduled to have a c-section because of complications due to pregnancy around the time Judge Aguilar was trying to hold her in contempt of court, and it paints a very bad picture. A picture that not only reflects on Aguilar, but on the judiciary as a whole.

But this is the part where I'm probably gonna hurt some feelings, and frankly I'm unapologetic about that.

Here's the conclusion of the report:

Though the court issued a conclusion that I can only describe as gacho - do you know what their big punishment was for a judge that had 9 complaints leveled, probably many more instances that no one ever formally complained about, and a wide scale investigation conducted that lead to 60+ items in the report?

More education.

Seriously, I'm not making that up. He got the legal community equivalent of after-school detention. Thats it. Basically got off scot free. Hell, he got off even lighter than Jesse Gandara did in Judge Gonzalo Garcia's court!

So lets summarize this here - it took complaints largely from out-of-town attorneys of some pretty egregious behavior to even get the ball rolling and the Commission says that Aguilar "..willfully and persistently failed to comply with applicable law..." and all he got was extra education?

That sends a terrible message to the community. It sends the message that judges are above the law. It says that they will protect their own. Because I guarantee you, if any of us were in front of a judge who was telling use that we willfully and persistently failed to comply with applicable law, I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be getting after school detention.

Elected officials should be held to a higher standard. Judges, should be held to a standard even higher than elected officials.

The slap on the wrist, was a slap in the face to local El Paso voters.

The slap on the wrist sends a chilling message to attorneys that if they take the step to make a complaint, put themselves out on the limb, that the judge gets a slap on the wrist and they still have to practice in his court.

This type of decision, while scathing in its text, lacks teeth and undermines the public's confidence in the judiciary.

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Political Ramifications

Despite the toothless rebuke of Judge Aguilar, it most definitely has the ability to end his career as a judge - provided that his opponent or opponents will actually take advantage of the opportunity to educate voters on why electing judges is important.

Aguilar has already filed for reelection in the March primary and he has an opponent. The opponent was there long before the story came out so there is no word yet as to whether other opponents will pop up.

But the political implications of this issue will only become reality if there is a candidate that is willing to leverage the facts against Aguilar.

That can prove problematic.

Aguilar has dealt with campaign storms before and last election cycle was able to fend off a challenge from a younger, smart, female challenger. The attack came late though.

If it is to be successful this time, the opponent or opponents need to make his record an issue EARLY and not late. Once he is defined by this report, he will have to spend time, treasure, and talent trying to undo the damage.

The question is whether or not someone will actually do it.

The deadline to file for the March primary is December 11th.