Metropolitan News-Enterprise

 

Tuesday, June 10, 2003

 

Page 3

 

CJP Charges Yuba Judge With Helping Friends in Traffic Cases

 

By a MetNews Staff Writer

 

A Yuba Superior Court judge has been charged by the Commission on Judicial Performance with using his office to grant favors to friends and family members charged with traffic offenses, the CJP said yesterday.

In a notice of formal proceedings, the commission accused Judge David E. Wasilenko of “willful misconduct in office, conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice that brings the judicial office into disrepute, and improper action....”

The commission said Wasilenko, a judge since 1985, improperly acted to benefit nine people whose cases he should not have heard. One person was the wife of his first cousin, one was a woman with whom he had a “close personal relationship,” one was a friend of his daughter, and others were persons whom the judge had known for several years.

In each of the cases, the judge heard the matter, even though it was not assigned to him, the notice said. Some of the cases were misdemeanors, and the judge acted without notice to the prosecutor, the commission alleged.

Wasilenko’s attorney, James Murphy of San Francisco, did not return a call seeking comment.

 

Copyright 2003, Metropolitan News Company