Sacramento County Judges, Lawyers and Court Employees with Antisocial Personality Disorder: News You Can Use

CONSUMER PROTECTION NEWS YOU CAN USE: Do Sacramento County judges, lawyers and court employees exhibit the clinical symptoms of antisocial personality disorder? Many family court litigants allege they do.

From: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition DSM-5, Cluster B Personality Disorders: Antisocial Personality Disorder. Individuals with this disorder are sometimes called psychopaths or sociopaths. File includes California Civil Jury Instruction 4001 "Mental Disorder" Explained, and Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy excerpts on Antisocial Personality Disorder and psychopaths, sociopaths distinguished.

 

Read our Special Report: Sacramento County Family Court Operates as RICO Racketeering Enterprise, Charge Whistleblowers.

CONTROVERSIAL JUDGE MATTHEW GARY PROSECUTED AND CONVICTED BY COMMISSION ON JUDICIAL PERFORMANCE - NOW THREE-STRIKER

Prominent judge misconduct defense attorney James Murphy arranges sweetheart plea bargain ("stipulation") ending CJP prosecution. Under plea bargain, Gary admits to multiple acts of misconduct, reportedly in exchange for reduced punishment.

More complaints against Gary reportedly are in the pipeline to the Commission on Judicial Performance. Sacramento Family Court Report is conducting a rolling investigation of misconduct by Gary. If you have made a complaint, or are planning to make a complaint against the judge, contact us.

Read more about Judge Matthew Gary:

• Judge Matthew Gary Serial Misconduct Saga: Court Watchdogs Stunned by Return of Controversial Judge-Clerk Team to Family Court.

Read our Special Report: Sacramento County Family Court Operates as RICO Racketeering Enterprise, Charge Whistleblowers.

JUDGE MATTHEW GARY PLEADS GUILTY BY "STIPULATION" IN MISCONDUCT PROSECUTION BY COMMISSION ON JUDICIAL PERFORMANCE

View the complete catalog of Sacramento Family Court Report posts about Judge Matthew Gary.

Read our Special Report: Sacramento County Family Court Operates as RICO Racketeering Enterprise, Charge Whistleblowers.

Judge Matthew Gary Serial Misconduct Saga: Court Watchdogs Stunned by Return of Controversial Judge-Clerk Team to Family Court

Court clerk Christina Arcuri with Judge Matthew Gary 

Sacramento Superior Court Presiding Judge Kevin Culhane has reassigned troubled Judge Matthew J. Gary - and his equally controversial clerk Christina Arcuri - to hear cases in the family law courthouse.

Under a cloud of controversy, in 2014 Gary and Arcuri were moved from a family law courtroom in the William Ridgeway Family Relations Courthouse on Power Inn Road to a probate/mental health law courtroom in the same courthouse. 

Court watchdogs assert that Gary and Arcuri are openly biased against self-represented litigants who cannot afford to hire an attorney, and who make up more than 70 percent of court users in family court. Court employee whistleblowers also allege that the pair have been engaged in an improper, long-term personal relationship for over ten years. The couple deny the claim.
   

After generating a number of complaints during the course of their assignment to the probate/mental courtroom, in 2015 Gary and Arcuri were again reassigned to hear trial and misdemeanor warrants and mental health hearings in Department 13 at the Gordon D. Schaber courthouse in downtown Sacramento. The pair reportedly also generated complaints in that assignment and have now cycled back to the family law courthouse, to Department 122. 

In their prior family court stint, Gary and Arcuri were involved in a string of scandals, including 

• Gary failing to disclose a conflict of interest involving his now-ex wife's software company.  
• A full reversal by the 3rd District Court of Appeal of a judgment issued by Gary in the Seaton divorce case. 
• Gary's premature removal from a family court supervising judge position by then-Presiding Judge Laurie Earl.
• Infighting after his removal as family court supervising judge, forcing the resignation of his successor, Judge Jamie Roman.   
• Gary's forced removal from a family law case ordered by San Joaquin County Judge Xapuri Villapudua. 
• The illegal in-court arrest of an indigent, self-represented, disabled family court parent, caught on a courtroom security video and subsequently leaked by a court employee whistleblower. 
• Failing to report alleged obstruction of justice crimes by a prominent family law attorney with a history of misconduct.  
• Issuing a series of allegedly illegal orders against an indigent, disabled parent who was self-represented because she couldn't afford to hire a lawyer.  
• Attempting to obstruct an appeal of orders issued by Gary. 
• Failing to report to law enforcement an alleged racketeering enterprise operating in the family court system. 

Read our Special Report: Sacramento County Family Court Operates as RICO Racketeering Enterprise, Charge Whistleblowers.

Sacramento Superior Court Watchdog Group Calls on Presiding Judge Kevin Culhane to Rectify Improper Judge-Clerk Relationship

Kern County Judge Cory Woodward was punished by the Commission on Judicial Performance for having an improper personal relationship with his courtroom clerk. Sacramento County Judge Matthew Gary reportedly has had a similar relationship with his courtroom clerk, Christina Arcuri, for at least four years. 

"[I]t is time for this charade to end." 

Sacramento Family Court Corruption, a Facebook watchdog group with over 600 followers, has issued an open letter to Sacramento County Presiding Judge Kevin Culhane regarding an alleged improper relationship between a Sacramento Superior Court judge and his courtroom clerk. 

The whistleblower group alleges that Judge Matthew Gary has been in a consensual, personal relationship with his clerk, Christina Arcuri for more than five years. Both Gary and Arcuri also have been involved in a number of controversies involving the alleged mistreatment of indigent, disabled, and financially disadvantaged family court parties who are self-represented.

Judge Matthew Gary Outraged at Supreme Court Same-Sex Marriage Ruling - SFCN Sunday Funnies - RoadDog Satire

Judge Matthew Gary to Speak on How Homos Harm Kids at Right-Wing Ideologue Evangelical Church 

Sunday Satire by RoadDog

The Right-Wing Evangelical Church in Fair Oaks next Sunday will host
a talk by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Matthew Gary.

In reaction to the recent US Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage, controversial Sacramento Superior Court Judge Matthew Gary will give a talk next Sunday on the effects of homosexuality on children. 

"How the homos harm kids" is the title of a speech Gary will give at the Right-Wing Ideologue Evangelical Church in Fair Oaks, according to a press release from Gary's publicist and court clerk Christina Arcuri.

"The Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges is an outrage, and an outrage that will have far-ranging consequences," Gary is expected to rant. "The legalization of same-sex marriage will cause irreparable harm to countless children throughout the United States. As a family court judge, I am an unimpeachable authority on this subject," Gary will rightly point out. "These gay homos are criminalizing Christianity and the beliefs of Evangelicals and someone must make a stand."  

To continue reading, click Read more>> below: 

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.  
  

Sacramento Superior Court Corruption: Leaked Court Reporter Transcript Records Flagrant State Law Violations at Unlawful Fee Waiver Hearing

Judge Matthew Gary Orders Illegal Fee Waiver Hearing to Obstruct Appeal of Own Orders, Help Judge Pro Tem Lawyer

Monday Document Dump

Sacramento Superior Court whistleblowers allege that the court acts as a
racketeering enterprise involving collusion between judges and
lawyers who also work as part-time judges in the same court.

Unilaterally overriding state law, constructing his own ad hoc interpretation of legislative intent, and legislating from the bench, Judge Matthew Gary denies a fee waiver request by a disabled, indigent, unrepresented litigant in this startling court reporter transcript, embedded at the end of this article. 

The fee waiver request by a litigant with a cognitive disability was for trial court appellate costs for an appeal of several orders issued by the judge, including an illegal, non-conforming order for more than $10,000 in attorney fee sanctions to the opposing attorney. Click here to view the order.  

The pro per had an existing fee waiver which by law automatically applied to the trial court appeal costs, making the hearing ordered by the judge patently unlawful. To view the order Gary issued after the hearing, click here. 

The opposing party is represented by divorce attorney Paula Salinger, partner at the prominent Sacramento family law firm Woodruff, O'Hair, Posner & Salinger Inc., sworn Sacramento County Superior Court temporary judge, and current officer of the Sacramento County Bar Association Family Law Executive Committee or FLEC. Days after the hearing, Gary issued a second order reversing himself and granting the fee waiver request, but at the same time embedding in the order a sham finding designed to help Salinger and her client at a pending trial in the case.

To continue reading, and to view the court reporter transcript click Read more >> below...

Sacramento Superior Court Controversy: Defective Fee Waivers Issued by Judges and Clerks Violate State Law, Block Court Access of Indigent Litigants

This defective fee waiver order was issued by courtroom clerk Christina Arcuri. The complete order contains multiple errors and was rejected by law and motion filing clerks and the Sheriff's Civil Division. 

A Sacramento Family Court News statistical sampling audit of family court cases reveals that court clerks are issuing incomplete, defective fee waiver orders which contain substantive errors rendering the orders useless, and depriving indigent litigants the ability to file court paperwork. 

Under California law, indigent and low income litigants are entitled to a waiver of court filing fees. Certain family court filings - including domestic violence and contempt actions - require proof of personal service and the fee waiver also entitles poor litigants to have papers served by the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department Civil Division.

Judge Matthew Gary Demoted by Presiding Judge: Stripped of Supervising Judge Title by PJ Laurie Earl - Judge Jaime Roman Installed as Supervising Judge

Controversial Judge Matthew Gary Removed from Supervising Judge Position

Sacramento County Family Court News Exclusive

Letterhead of former Supervising Family Law/Probate/ADA Judge Matthew J. Gary

Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Jaime R. Roman has been named as the Supervising Family Law, Probate and ADA Judge, effective today. The supervising judge position previously was held by Matthew J. Gary, who prematurely has been removed from the post months before the normal rotation of presiding and supervising judge positions. 

All other supervising and presiding judge positions remain unchanged. Working from Department 121, Gary will revert to his position as a non-supervisory, rank-and-file family court jurist. 

Gary's short-lived stint as a supervising judge was marred by controversy, including a plan to eliminate many family court services and reduce the Family Law Division of the court to providing what he referred to as "core functions." Gary also has been battered by disqualification by an outside judge, and endured a major reversal from the Third District Court of Appeal. 

To continue reading, click Read more >> below...    

Judge Matthew Gary Abuse of Authority: Indigent, Disabled, Unrepresented Litigant Illegally Arrested and Jailed for Contempt of Court

Judge Matthew Gary Escapes Accountability for Illegal Arrest and Incarceration of Disabled Pro Per

Friday Document Dump

As this document reflects, Sacramento County Family Court Judge Matthew Gary ordered his courtroom bailiff to arrest and jail unrepresented, disabled litigant Robert Saunders for contempt of court on March 9, 2009. The incident was witnessed by Sacramento County Bar Association Family Law Section attorneys Richard Sokol and Elaine Van Beveren. Each lawyer also serves as a temporary judge in the same court. 

Two independent judges subsequently determined that both the arrest and contempt charge were unlawful, and the criminal case was dismissed. Both Sokol and Van Beveren had a legal and ethical duty to report Gary's misconduct. Courtroom clerk Christina Arcuri also had a legal and ethical duty to report the misconduct. None of the witnesses reported the misconduct or otherwise took any corrective action. At the same hearing, the judge issued an illegal "no-contact" order prohibiting Saunders from having any contact with his twin daughters. Saunders has not seen his children since. Gary has never been held accountable for his misconduct and violation of Saunders' constitutional, civil, and parental rights. Click here to read the exclusive Sacramento Family Court News report of the March 9, 2009 incident.