Sacramento Superior Court Corruption Victims Take Advocacy to State Level at Commission on Judicial Performance

Sacramento County Superior Court whistleblowers this year have expanded their ranks, joined forces with similar groups in other counties, and taken their court reform campaign to the state level, according to Fatima Katumbusi, a group spokesperson. 

"Our local watchdogs have teamed up with the Center for Judicial Excellence, Court Reform LLC, the Commission on Judicial Performance Reform Project and other groups," Katumbusi explained. "We have testified at the State Assembly, raised awareness about court corruption at the Super Bowl, and engaged on social media. Mainstream media, including the Sacramento Bee, Daily Journal and San Francisco Chronicle have reported on several of our issues, and published opinion columns by people in our group," she added.

Yesterday, the San Francisco Chronicle published an op-ed criticizing secrecy at the state Commission on Judicial Performance, the government agency responsible for oversight and accountability of judges. The piece was authored by two court reform advocates, one of whom is a victim of alleged corruption in the family law division of Sacramento Superior Court.  

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Misconduct Victims Attend, Testify at State Assembly Hearing on Commission on Judicial Performance Problems

In the video clip above, Commission on Judicial Performance whistleblower and court reform advocate Joe Sweeney testifies at a California Assembly Budget Committee hearing on March 28, 2016. The CJP is responsible for judge oversight and accountability in the state. 

Several days before the hearing, Sweeney's court modernization and reform organization, Court Reform LLC, released a 78-page report which raised questions about CJP judicial misconduct statistical data and how the agency spends taxpayer funds.

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Misconduct: False Testimony Under Oath by Judge Peter J. McBrien at the Commission on Judicial Performance

Perjury and Lies by Judge Peter McBrien Documented by the Commission on Judicial Performance in Whistleblower Leaked Records

Wednesday Document Dump - SFCN Exclusive

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Peter McBrien's personal vendetta against Ulf 
Carlsson was detailed and reenacted in the 2014 documentary film Divorce Corp.

False testimony under oath by Judge Peter McBrien is documented by the Commission on Judicial Performance in this set of whistleblower leaked documents, embedded below. The CJP is the state agency responsible for the oversight and accountability of judges in California. 

McBrien's serial misconduct in the Carlsson divorce case led to his prosecution by the CJP and was chronicled in the 2014 documentary film Divorce Corp. To view a clip from the movie featuring an interview with Ulf Carlsson describing what a court of appeal judge called McBrien's "judicial reign of terror," click here.  

Sacramento Superior Court watchdogs allege that the judge also is responsible for a family court criminal racketeering enterprise involving collusion and kickbacks between judges and divorce lawyers who also work as part-time judges in the same court. Click here for our investigative report.  

McBrien retired from the bench in 2014, but was authorized to continue working as a family court commissioner by controversial Sacramento County Presiding Judge Robert Hight and troubled family court Supervising Judge James Mize. Hight testified as a character witness in support of McBrien at the judge's 2009 CJP prosecution. Mize also testified as a character witness for McBrien.   

Perjury and Lies by Judge Peter McBrien at the Commission on Judicial Performance: Whistleblower Leaked CJP... by California Judicial Branch News Network - Independent Investigative Reporting on California Courts