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EDITORIAL
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Renee Rose
Los Angeles Superior Court Office No. 48
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eputy District Attorney Renee Rose is ideally suited for a judgeship. She has the background—as a Riverside deputy district attorney from 1991-94 and a prosecutor here since 1994—and possesses maturity, poise, and intelligence.
“Renee is smart and is a good and ethical prosecutor,” one judge tells us, adding:
“Wholeheartedly support her.”
A former deputy district attorney says of Rose:
“She’s a dedicated prosecutor and has been assigned to the Elder Abuse unit for some time as the deputy in charge. I endorse and recommend her. I believe her to be ethical, hardworking and committed to seeking justice and doing the right thing.”
Rose has held her current position, at the supervisorial level, since 2017. Before that, she was assigned to various special units.
In 2010, she was lead prosecutor in the widely publicized conspiracy trial arising from the death, by a drug overdose, of model/actress/television reality show star Anna Nicole Smith. Smith’s doctor was acquitted; her psychiatrist and her boyfriend were convicted on some counts.
The district attorney then in office was Steve Cooley. He said yesterday of Rose’s performance at that trial:
“She acquitted herself very professionally in prosecuting a challenging case under very difficult circumstances.”
Cooley added:
“She is the kind of attorney that makes for an excellent prosecutor—professional and dedicated to the mission. Predictably, Renee will make a great addition to the bench.”
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articularly impressive is that, in her latest annual office review (dated Dec. 28, 2022), she attained the highest possible rating, one that has become nearly impossible to gain: “Far Exceeded Expectations (Outstanding).” There is this explanation:
“Ms. Rose goes above and beyond her responsibilities by continuing to carry her own caseload of 15-20 cases during this rating period. Although her operation has returned to full staff, Ms. Rose chose not to reassign her cases to her deputies recognizing that they were carrying extremely high caseloads which included multiple murder cases. She travels all over the county to handle her cases which involve restoration of sanity hearings, competency hearing, restitution hearings and remittitur issues. Not very many supervisors at Ms. Rose’s management level are willing to assume the volume of cases that she currently carries with vigor and commitment to securing justice for the elder and dependent adult community.”
The report also contains this observation:
“Ms. Rose is an extremely committed and engaged supervisor. Her deputies often seek her advice on matters both personal and professional. While they may not always agree with her assessment of a case or a proposed disposition, they respectfully recognize her expertise and knowledge in elder abuse prosecutions. Ms. Rose is able to listen and take the time to consider other viewpoints before making her decisions. She also has the ability to deliver constructive criticism to her deputies and staff. Ms. Rose holds her deputies to the highest standards of professionalism and work ethic. Ms. Rose always show courtesy and respect to her staff and provides an example of consummate professionalism particularly when she is confronted with difficult situations.”
It notes:
“She is a master at multi-tasking. She is knowledgeable, well-organized, efficient, and utterly competent.”
The previous year’s report also ranks Rose at the rarely assigned highest performance level, remarking:
“Her even temperament, sincerity and willingness to do the right thing enable her to adapt easily to new responsibilities or unforeseen circumstances.”
The qualities that are ascribed to her are those the public desires in judges of our Superior Court.
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lso in the race is Malik C. Burroughs, a private practitioner. He’s a mystery candidate. He entered a contest for a public office and, yet, has gone into hiding.
Burroughs is, according to his listing on the State Bar website, an attorney with Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, a respected firm. But that firm, on its website, does not list Burroughs as a member of it.
He represented to the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder’s Office, in his ballot designation worksheet, that Quinn Emanuel employs him, and identified Debbie Klaeger of that firm as the person who can confirm his employment.
The non-inclusion of Burroughs on the Quinn Emanuel website should be easy to clear up. Burroughs, presumably, could explain. But he won’t respond to emailed inquires.
Klaeger supposedly has the answer. She won’t reply, either.
The firm’s public information officer won’t provide the information. The co-managing partners of the Los Angeles office are likewise mum.
Why the silence? We don’t know. But does it matter? Rose is highly qualified for a judgeship; Burroughs is presenting no evidence of fitness on his part and, to the contrary, is lurking in the shadows; and why Quinn Emanuel is behaving so queerly is beside the point.
Burroughs, whatever the state of his employment, is evidently an oddball and his candidacy is unworthy of consideration.
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he candidacy of the third aspirant, Deputy Public Defender Ericka J. Wiley, is worthy of note, and prompt rejection. She’s a member of a triad known as the “Defenders of Justice,” financed by monied interests with radical leanings.
Independence of the judiciary is a cause that is sullied and frustrated where there are judges who lack independence from advocacy groups that seek to veer the focus of the judiciary from what the Legislature has ordained to be policy to what those groups want to establish, instead.
Wiley and her two teammates in the “Defenders of Justice”—Deputy Public Defender George A. Turner, a candidate for Office No. 37, and private practitioner La Shae Henderson, running for Office No. 97—are pawns in a movement that seeks to place them on the bench to carry on its mission. They should be blocked by voters from gaining judgeships.
Rose is highly qualified. Burroughs’s candidacy is marked by silliness. Wiley is a candidate tethered to a movement that wants its left-wing precepts to be followed by its adherents, if elected, in preference to a faithful application of the law.
There is no rational choice in this contest other than the election of Rose.
Copyright 2023, Metropolitan News Company