EDC judge ousted from criminal bench
El Dorado County Superior Court Judge Suzanne Kingsbury, left, was at Dylan Sullivan’s election party last year. Photo/Provided
By Kathryn Reed
El Dorado County Superior Court Judge Dylan Sullivan has been removed from all criminal cases and instead will hear civil issues.
The reason for this change has not been disclosed.
Presiding Judge Suzanne Kingsbury, who makes the assignments, deferred comment to the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office. She would not explain why.
“The legal system is designed so both the District Attorneys Office as well as the Public Defenders Office is offered the opportunity when appropriate to exercise the legal authority to exclude a Superior Court judge from a case. At this time the District Attorneys Office has chosen to utilize this legal right,” Deputy District Attorney David Stevenson told Lake Tahoe News.
The DA’s Office has filed a number of preemptory challenges against Sullivan. However, the reasons are not being disclosed. The DA’s office said Sullivan would be challenged on a case-by-case situation.
These types of challenges are not routine, but neither are they rare, according to legal officials. They must be made in a timely manner and can only be filed once per case.
Filing such a challenge is equivalent to saying one does not believe the judge will be able to handle the case, perhaps for ethical reasons. The attorney doing the challenge does not have to prove bias. While California is not alone in allowing this type of procedure, it is not the norm in most states.
The judge has no recourse and essentially does not get her day in court to prove she is or is not biased or that she is being wrongfully persecuted in a reverse case of bias.
People close to the issue told Lake Tahoe News things came to a head last week with Kingsbury clearing Sullivan’s court calendar starting on Aug. 10. By the end of the week Sullivan was told to go home. This week she has been seen following Judge Nelson Brooks who handles probate, an area of law Sullivan isn’t familiar with. Reports are the two judges will be swapping departments.
Even so, this will not eliminate Sullivan from interacting with deputy district attorneys. They are involved in delinquency and other cases in that department.
“There are judicial ethics that make it difficult for me to comment,” Sullivan told Lake Tahoe News. She would not say anything more.
The normal process if someone has an issue with a judge is to file a complaint with the Commission of Judicial Performance.
“We can’t talk about specific cases. We can’t say who is under investigation,” Victoria Henley, director and chief counsel for the commission, told Lake Tahoe News.
If a challenge for cause were filed, that is when the challenger has to prove bias or misconduct by the judge.
Sullivan, 49, was elected to the job in June 2014. She filled the vacancy of retiring Judge Daniel Proud. She was to begin the job in January, but instead Gov. Jerry Brown appointed her to the seat early. Kingsbury swore her in Sept. 19, 2014.
At that time Kingsbury said she assigned Sullivan to Department 7, the criminal pre-trial department in Placerville, to handle misdemeanor arraignments, hear preliminary matters, traffic issues, and drug court because of Sullivan’s training and experience.
did they find out that she is bought and sold ?
framing article
I am glad that Judge Kingsbury took the bull by the horns and acted. That is her job to do, after all, and I trust she had good reasons.
If I could get 5 minutes with the Judge I’d hope she’d be barring a couple completely incompetent (and high) attorneys and employees of her court, that can’t perform their jobs and hide their huge errors from her at the cost of people working their way through the system. It should be criminal.
Judge Sullivan was one of the most understanding and fair judges I have ever had the opportunity to appear before. She takes the time to understand the people as well as the issues. In my experience some people expect the judge to be hard and fast, and I might add biased. Judge Sullivan choice compassion and fairness.
Judge Sullivan holds everyone accountable and, yes, that includes the DAs office. She follows the law!!!!
THE COURTS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE AN UNBIASED FORUM!!! IF THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY DOES NOT LIKE THE JUDGE, THEY CAN DISQUALIFY THEM ON A CASE AND SO CAN THE DEFENSE ATTORNEY. JUST BECAUSE THE PROSECUTOR WANTS TO DISQUALIFY THE JUDGE, THE HEAD JUDGE SHOULD NOT MOVE THE JUDGE!!! “JUDGE SHOPPING IS ILLEGAL”! WHAT DOES THIS MEAN??? IT MEANS THAT THE PROSECUTOR IS CONTROLLING THE COURT AND THE HEAD JUDGE IS ALLOWING THEM TO DO SO!!! THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!! THE PEOPLE OF EL DORADO VOTED FOR JUDGE SULLIVAN AND NOW THE HEAD JUDGE IS MOVING HER OUT BECAUSE THE PROSECUTOR DOES NOT LIKE THAT SHE IS MAKING THEM FOLLOW THE RULES IN THE JUSTICE SYSTEM. THIS JUDGE HAS NOTHING WRONG – ONLY TO HOLD BOTH SIDES ACCOUNTABLE AND MAKE BOTH SIDES FOLLOW THE RULES!
You are right – the story should be that the Presiding Judge allowed the DA to control the bench! This is outrageous conduct and the voters of El Dorado County should be outraged.
What the reporter is likely unaware of is that the 170.6 challenges may be routine, but to have a presiding judge coward to the demands of the DAs office should outrage every person expecting a fair hearing in El Dorado County. When I say everyone, I mean, attorneys, citizens, officials – EVERYONE.
I am concerned as all of you should be, if the DA wanted Judge Sullivan out, what kind of criminal experience does Judge Brooks have?
This should be concerning to every single person!!
Why Would the Judge Kingsberry “defer comment to the district attorneys office”. Sounds to me like they are in-cahoots… not OK. Judges are supposed to not favor either side and we see who Judge Kingserry is siding with the District attorney against Judge Dylan. This is scary. We cant really trust anyone in this county anymore.. Judge Brooks is going to the criminal court because he doesnt have criminal experience so the district attorney will be the Judge really.. no more defense in criminal cases here anymore… scary!
Judge Sullivan is good for the kids of El Dorado County! This is a WONDERFUL move!
These are typical politicians.. Kingsbury is working for Vern Pearson who has lied about being in the Military and now he has the courts under his control too. The District Attorney himself has not even stated a reason for disqualifying a very experienced woman Judge who the people put in Office. There is no good reason to disqualify an experienced criminal judge on all cases.. He did not support Judge Sullivan and people knew he would try to get her out. Now Kingsbury let it happen and is trying to make it seem like Judge Sullivan did something wrong. All she has done is follow the law and make all the attorneys follow the law. Shame on Kingsbury!
I have never seen a question about the DA’s military service ever come up, and with this kind of accusation without a shred of facts to support it, it is not something someone should be doing without the required proof if they have it. For the other questions about why a judge is being disqualified for criminal cases by the DA’s Office, the reason must be there somewhere and I am sure it will be revealed soon and if the judge is unable to hear criminal cases because of a bias it can cause a lot of delays and it is an legitimate issue.
Just ridiculous! You take the time to vote only to have the vote be taken away! Why move a judge who has many years experience in Criminal Law? Judge Sullivan is VERY fair in all her criminal cases. The people of El Dorado County should feel deluded.
The voters of El Dorado County should be outraged by this!! I cannot believe that the DA’s office would even have the audacity to question Judge Sullivan’s actions when she is known for and IS a judge that maintains all fairness for all parties in her courtroom, she applies the rules of the judicial system to all while upholding the law and applying the constitution. The real travesty is that the DA’s office is now being allowed to dictate who presides over what –Well what about the people that she represents??–where is our voice in this decision.
I am on the board of the El Dorado Hills Tea Party Patriots. We met her and spoke with her. She’s tough. We had a candidate’s forum and she outperformed the other contenders for the position. The majority of people who attended the forum knew she was the person for the job. She knows her stuff. She’s fair minded. The Tea Party Patriots of EDH endorsed her for this position, and we don’t hand out endorsements like candy. This is very concerning.