BREAKING: 3rd District Court Appeal Presiding Justice Vance Raye Forced Into Retirement After Commission on Judicial Performance Investigation

Read our comprehensive report on incompetence and corruption at the Third District Court of Appeal in Sacramento.  View a list of news reports about the new Vance Raye controversy. 

Justice Arthur Scotland: Federal Crimes Alleged by Sacramento Superior Court Whistleblowers - 18-page Catalog

Arthur Scotland criminal allegations catalog at issuu.

• Read more about controversial 3rd District Court of Appeal Justice Arthur G. Scotland. 
• Read more about the controversial 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento.

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.

Mute Court: Sacramento County Court Executive Officer Christina Volkers Silent on State Law Violations by Family Court Appeals Unit

Chris Volkers, Court Executive Officer for
Sacramento County Superior Court.

Christina Volkers, Court Executive Officer for Sacramento County Superior Court has declined to notify the public what corrective measures will be taken to ensure that family court clerks do not unlawfully obstruct appeals by unrepresented, financially disadvantaged litigants.

In an February 7 email to Volkers, Sacramento Family Court News asked for a response - including any planned corrective measures - to our report documenting that the family court appeals unit is illegally rejecting timely appeals as being untimely. Volkers, the court's CEO, did not respond to our request.

During the same time period, an article about court reporter cutbacks published in the Sacramento Business Journal on Feb. 15 included an email response and statement from Volkers.

Government officials are by law required to provide equal treatment and access to reporters and media organizations. If Volkers has invoked a code of silence and blacklisted Sacramento Family Court News in retaliation for its reporting, taxpayers could be liable for the costs of litigation challenging the unequal treatment.

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Tani G. Cantil Sakauye Spreads Cronyitis Infection From 3rd District to California Supreme Court - SFCN Sunday Funnies

Tani Cantil-Sakauye Schleps Code of Silence Policy from Third District to Supreme Court

Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye - formerly known as a 3rd District Court of Appeal justice and Sacramento County Superior Court judge - is the new chief justice of the Supreme Court of California. At the appellate court, the former prosecutor showed no mercy for the 70 percent of indigent family court litigants without attorneys who attempted appeals from Sacramento Family Court. 

Sunday Satire by RoadDog

Thanks Arnold: On Monday a new chief justice of the California Supreme Court was sworn in. Compliments of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the new CJ is the ethically-challenged Tani Gorre Cantil-Sakauye, a former Sacramento County Family Court judge. 

Tani has been knee-deep in the documented Sacramento Family Court corruption that began in the early 1990's, and has run unchecked ever since. After her elevation to the Third District Court of Appeal in 2005, she partnered with other Sacramento County Superior Court and Deukmejian administration alumni - including Art Scotland and George Nicholson - to keep a lid on the continuing scandals generated by her former coworkers across town. 

Tani, Art and George all come from a law enforcement background and culture, and rode to the bench exploiting their faux tough-on-crime credentials. In published, and especially unpublished 3rd District decisions, the trio have shown they still swear allegiance to the cop Blue Code of Silence. Any appeal with a claim that a Sacramento Family Court homie committed misconduct is whitewashed with two coats. 

During Cantil-Sakauye's ticket-punching tour at the 3rd, the appellate court's hostility to appeals by the 70 percent of family court litigants who can't afford lawyers was legendary. Due to the hurdles thrown up by the court, few appeals were ever decided on the merits, and no family court appeal was ever won by a financially disadvantaged, unrepresented litigant who faced off against an attorney. 

Can you say rampant cronyism? Keep an eye on the special SFCN 3rd District Court of Appeal page for all the sordid details. Click here. RoadDog sez: Time to Occupy.