Schmidt Case Reportedly Alleges Preferential Treatment

Misconduct allegations against Harbor Municipal Judge Calvin P. Schmidt that are being investigated by the state Commission on Judicial Performance include a pattern of preferential treatment for certain defendants in his courtroom, according to sources familiar with the inquiry.

The commission announced Tuesday that a formal proceeding will be held to determine whether misconduct allegations against Schmidt, 59, are true. In October, the commission made a similar announcement concerning Harbor Municipal Judge Brian R. Carter, 63.

In Tuesday’s announcement, commission spokesman Peter Gubbins refused to be specific about the allegations against Schmidt.

But sources have told The Times that the commission is investigating allegations of favoritism in exchange for sex involving both Schmidt and Carter. Those allegations are closely tied to preferential treatment that allegedly was obtained by non-lawyer friends of Schmidt for several defendants.

Among incidents believed to be under scrutiny:

- Della Christine Johnson told Fullerton police after her arrest on suspicion of prostitution in June, 1984, that she had engaged in sex with a friend of Schmidt in return for the friend’s help in persuading Schmidt to give her special treatment in handling some traffic tickets.

- Pamela Grace Weston told The Times in an interview that another friend of Schmidt helped her get a sentence for prostitution reduced from jail time to community service by discussing her case privately with the judge.

Schmidt declined Tuesday to comment on either of those cases.

The Johnson case in particular illustrates the kind of behavior that has become the subject of serious scrutiny by the commission, according to sources.

It involved Richard James McLane, 56, of Irvine, a friend of Schmidt who has been convicted of two felonies involving drugs and minors since the Johnson incident.

Johnson’s involvement with McLane is explained in a transcript that appears in court records of a hearing before Superior Court Judge Jean Rheinheimer after Johnson’s June, 1984, prostitution arrest. That hearing was held in an effort to obtain a warrant to search Johnson’s apartment.

Johnson, who was 25 at the time of the arrest, told police then that she had a friend who had introduced her to a municipal judge to help her “clear up a driving record that had had . . . the result of having her license suspended,” according to Fullerton Police Sgt. Ron Rowell.

“She said in passing she mentioned her problem with the suspended or revoked driver’s license and that (a friend) told her he knew a judge that could help her get the license reinstated,” Rowell told Rheinheimer in describing a conversation with Johnson.

Johnson appeared in Schmidt’s courtroom in the late spring of 1983, Rowell added.

Harbor Court records show that Johnson was in Schmidt’s courtroom on April 28, 1983, and again on June 10, 1983, on a 1980 traffic citation and a warrant that had been issued when she failed to show up in court to face the citation previously.

When Johnson first entered Schmidt’s courtroom, she was approached by a stranger who pointed her out to the judge, who was on the bench at the time, according to a transcript of Rowell’s testimony.

The man, who Johnson later learned was McLane, quickly retreated to the back of the courtroom and watched the proceeding as the judge explained to Johnson what had to be done before he could reinstate her license,

Rowell testified.

At the time, Johnson apparently was facing several traffic charges in Orange County and possibly some in Los Angeles County, according to sources, and Schmidt apparently explained to Johnson that she had to deal with citations in other jurisdictions before he could reinstate her license.

In return for meeting Johnson in the courtroom and pointing her out to Schmidt, McLane had sex with Johnson, Rowell testified.

The Times reported on Oct. 11 that Johnson also told Fullerton police that she had had sex with Carter as payment for a debt owed to Schmidt. She said she owed that debt because of what happened in Schmidt’s courtroom with McLane, according to court documents.

Carter has declined comment.

McLane has refused to talk with The Times, but his attorney, Alex J. Forgette of Anaheim, said he doubted the whole scenario.

“I would be surprised if Jim did anything like that,” he said.

Forgette did acknowledge, however, that McLane and Schmidt are friends.

“I can’t tell you how close Jim and Cal Schmidt really are, but I know that I have heard Jim mention the judge’s name and that they are friends,” Forgette said.

Forgette also said a witness mentioned during McLane’s trial that Schmidt and McLane knew each other.

McLane, who routinely traveled in his own stretch limousine at the time of the Johnson incident, was sentenced last year to 5 years in prison for oral copulation with a minor and providing minors with cocaine but remains free while the case is on appeal.

X-Rated Performer

The incident involving Weston, who has starred in such X-rated movies as “Cara Lott,” was similar in some respects to the one involving Johnson.

In a recent interview with The Times, Weston said Schmidt reduced a 10-day jail sentence she was to serve for prostitution after a man--not McLane--who described himself as a friend of Schmidt told her that he would “talk to the judge” about lessening her punishment.

Weston said she already had been sentenced by Schmidt and was about to go to jail when Schmidt’s friend, whom she said was a fan of hers, “volunteered” to approach the judge and try to get her sentence reduced.

“He said that he was a neighbor of Schmidt’s and that maybe he could help me out,” she recounted.

Weston said the man then arranged to meet her at Harbor Court on Jamboree Road in Newport Beach. There, she said, the man told her to wait in the hallway while he spoke with Schmidt.

A short time later, Weston said, “he came out and said, ‘I did it. I changed your jail sentence to the work program.’ ”

Said She Didn’t Know Judge

Weston said she did not know Schmidt personally.

Schmidt originally sentenced Weston to jail on Nov. 5, 1984, court records show. On Jan. 14, 1985, the docket sheet for the case shows, Weston’s sentence was reduced from jail time to community service.

The entry on the docket sheet relating to that change initially was stamped with Schmidt’s name, indicating that he handled the case, court records show. But the name was crossed out and replaced with that of Judge Frances Munoz.

A knowledgeable source said that loose clerical and administrative practices are common in Harbor Court and have made it difficult to track cases during the investigations of Carter and Schmidt.

Canon 2 of the Judicial Code of Conduct addresses the integrity of the courts and prohibitions against relationships influencing judges’ decisions, according to Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Jeremy Fogel, former head of the ethics committee of the California Judges Assn.

It reads in part: “Judges should respect and comply with the law and should conduct themselves at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.

“Judges should not allow their family, social or other relationships to influence their judicial conduct or judgment. Judges should not lend the prestige of their office to advance the private interest of others; nor should a judge convey or permit others to convey the impression that they are in a special position to influence them.”

That is a somewhat subjective standard, Fogel said, and most judges therefore try to err on the side of caution.

“It’s like if I played racquetball, golf or tennis with a person on a regular basis, I would question that,” Fogel said. “A very good rule of thumb for a judge is if you have to ask the question (of whether it is proper or improper), you shouldn’t hear the case.”

A state judicial panel announced a hearing into allegations against Judge Schmidt. Part I, Page 1.