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CJP Files Charges Against Judge in Lassen
By a MetNews Staff Writer
The Commission on Judicial Performance yesterday publicly released a 48½-page notice of formal proceedings, containing 21 counts, against Lassen Superior Court Judge Tony R. Mallery.
That court, in a Northern California county with a population of 32,730, has two judges and one commissioner. Charges include:
•Ordering the $5,577 purchase with court funds of a metal storage container purportedly for the purpose of storing court documents, while actually, no such container was needed, the container was not suitable for the purpose, and the seller was the judge’s brother.
•Attempting to deter court employees from cooperating with the commission or making complaints to it and making false statements to the commission.
•Retaliating against lawyers who sought to avoid him handling their cases by filing a statement of disqualification or a peremptory challenge, and denigrating lawyers who filed such papers;
•Failing to disqualify himself where required by law to do so and failing to reveal facts that could trigger a challenge.
•Making ex parte remarks to other judges about cases, jeopardizing the litigants’ right to a fair trial, and urging Rebecca A. Wiseman, a retired justice of the Fifth District Court of Appeal, sitting on assignment to the Lassen Superior Court, not to conduct ability-to-pay hearings with respect to restitution fines, as required by a Court of Appeal decision.
•Taking the stance that he would, under no circumstances, order mental health diversion for a defendant or accept a plea bargain.
•Giving the appearance, at least, of attempting to coerce a lawyer into dropping his writ petition in the Court of Appeal challenging the judge’s striking of a peremptory challenge.
•Exceeding his authority by trying to influence charging decisions by District Attorney Susan Melyssah Rios, instigating improper ex parte communications with her, and retaliating against the office when she did not accede to his wishes.
•Making remarks that “would reasonably be perceived as bias or prejudice based on race, national origin, or ethnicity” such as referring to a courtroom clerk born in Hawaii as “Queen Latifah” and terming COVID-19 as “the Chinese virus.”
•Engaging in conduct “that would reasonably be perceived as bias, prejudice, or harassment based upon sex or gender” such as referring to a court employee as a “resident party girl”; commenting that another employee “acts like a schoolgirl,” and telling Judge Mark Nareau that the employee has “daddy issues” and “wants some ‘Mark’ and not some ‘Tony,’” or words to that effect; and telling the court’s chief executive officer, on her first day in the job, that he favored hiring another woman but that Nareau wanted to hire the “prettier girl” who was not as experienced.
•Displaying poor demeanor toward court staff including use of profanity; angrily shouting at staff members; and chastising an employee for adhering to a directive by Nareau, telling her, in a raised voice: “You don’t listen to anyone else. I’m the presiding judge.”
•Making disparaging remarks about Nareau and the CEO.
•Presiding over cases in which domestic violence restraining orders were sought notwithstanding close links with a nonprofit organization that assists victims of domestic violence.
The notice is dated Sept. 6; Mallery’s lawyer acknowledged receipt of it on Sept. 9; the judge has until Sept. 29 to file an answer.
Andi Barone, the Lassen Superior Court’s previous executive officer, in 2017 accepted a settlement of $100,001 plus costs in her action against Mallery, the court, and others based on alleged harassment by the judge.
The action was filed in the U.S. Superior Court for the Eastern District of California.
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