Judicial Council Chief of Staff: Judge Laurie Earl, Court Executive Officer Chris Volkers Responsible for Judge Oversight & Accountability

Judicial Council 2nd-in-Command Verifies Presiding Judge, Court Administrators Responsible for Unlawful Orders, Socioeconomic Bias By Judge

Jody Patel, currently the Chief of Staff for the Judicial Council,
formerly was the CEO of Sacramento County Superior Court.

Jody Patel, Chief of Staff for the Judicial Council Administrative Office of the Courts in San Francisco has informed Sacramento Family Court News that local court administrators and the presiding judge are responsible for investigating and correcting the judge misconduct allegations detailed in our June 28 investigative report. 

The responsibility for Sacramento Family Court oversight and accountability rests with Presiding Judge Laurie Earl, Court Executive Officer Christina Volkers, and family court Director of Operations Julie Setzer, according to Patel, who previously held the same position as Volkers. 

Before her promotion to the Judicial Council in 2006, from 2001-2006 Patel served as CEO of the Superior Court of Sacramento County. The Judicial Council is the policymaking body of the California courts and is responsible for ensuring the consistent, independent, impartial and accessible administration of justice, according to the council website. 

For an upcoming follow-up post to our June 28 report, SFCN asked several local and state court officials to respond to the documented allegations that Judge Matthew Gary and his clerk Christina Arcuri exhibit overt bias against socioeconomically disadvantaged pro per litigants, misuse Family Code §271 sanctions against the indigent, and issue inadequate, unlawful court orders, and to the evidence that court orders issued in Sacramento Family Court are not reasonably consistent from judge-to-judge, as required by state standards. 

Click here to view our initial inquiry to Judicial Council Chief of Staff Jody Patel. Click here to view Patel's response. Click here to read our follow-up email clarifying Patel's response. Click here to read our original, June 28 investigative report. For more articles about the issues and court officials in this post, click on the corresponding labels below.