A state senator from Santa Barbara is calling for a review of a panel which handles complaints against judges, citing the instance of a Ventura County judge being admonished for bringing a guide dog to work.
Democratic Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson of Santa Barbara joined with three assembly members to ask the Joint Legislative Audit Committee to order a review of the Commission on Judicial Performance.
The Commission admonished Judge Nancy Ayers for bringing the guide dog in training into the courtroom, even though she had received permission from the county’s presiding judge, as well as the court’s administrative office. Jackson says the complaints came from a gang member the judge had just sentenced to life in prison, as well as the felon’s jail cell neighbor. Court staff and even attorneys on both sides denied allegations that the dog was a disruption to the proceedings.
The judge appealed the Commission’s admonition, and was denied, but the Commission backed down after the State Supreme Court ruled against it.
Jackson, who is married to a former Supervisor Court judge, says the commission has apparently never been reviewed in its nearly half century history, but needs to be checked.