Sacramento County Court Corruption: Judge Pro Tem Attorney Caught in Cover Up of Judge Misconduct - Shifts Blame to Disabled Victim of Illegal Courtroom Arrest

Part-Time Judge Gives False Testimony, Blames Victim for Judge Matthew Gary Misconduct and Abuse of Disabled, Unrepresented Pro Per Litigant

The Historical Revisionism of Sworn Temporary Judges Richard Sokol and Elaine Van Beveren - Part 2
A Special News and Analysis Series by Pelican Briefed

This is Part 2 of our series "The Historical Revisionism of Sworn Temporary Judges
Richard Sokol and Elaine Van Beveren." To view Part 1, click here.

A court reporter transcript obtained by Sacramento Family Court News records divorce attorney Richard Sokol making demonstrably false statements at a court hearing before Judge Thadd Blizzard. 

Sokol's apparent motive was to demonize and discredit the opposing party in a family court child custody dispute. Sokol is a Sacramento County Superior Court sworn temporary judge and Sacramento Bar Association Family Law Section member. 

Sokol is caught on court reporter transcript giving a false account of a prior court hearing before controversial Judge Matthew Gary in the same case. At the previous hearing, Gary had Robert Saunders, the disabled, unrepresented pro per opposing party, arrested and jailed for contempt of court. 

Saunders also was charged with resisting arrest by Gary's courtroom bailiff, Sacramento County Sheriff's Department Deputy J. Strong. As Sacramento Family Court News reported in 2012, two outside, independent judges who later reviewed the incident found that Gary was at fault, and cleared Saunders of all charges. 

Gary was involuntarily disqualified, and banned from hearing further proceedings in the case by San Joaquin Superior Court Judge Xapuri Villapudua. 

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More than three years later in open court, judge pro tem lawyer Richard Sokol gave a fabricated dramatization of the incident to Judge Thadd Blizzard: 

"I was within one foot of the -- of Mr. Saunders. He was acting out of control. The judge asked him no fewer than five times to leave. It was over; he refused to leave. If anybody wants to talk to the bailiff, who was finally standing next to him saying, come on, it's time to go. He started wrestling with that bailiff. Another bailiff had to come from another court, leaped across the table to pin him down. This was a fight in court, caused not by Judge Gary, and Judge Gary correctly had him removed," Sokol claimed to Blizzard.

In reference to the subsequent review and disqualification by Judge Villapudua, Sokol also falsely claimed that Gary did not file a response to the request for disqualification filed by Saunders, and that that was why Gary was disqualified by Villapudua. "The problem is that he, Judge Gary, did not file a responsive thing to his filing down the road," Sokol lied. To view Gary's "responsive thing," filed in Sacramento County Superior Court, click here.  

Judge pro tem attorney Richard Sokol falsely claimed that Judge Matthew Gary
did not submit a response to a disqualification challenge filed by disabled
family court litigant Robert Saunders. 

Sokol likely had a second motive for giving a false account of the incident: The subsequent vindication of Saunders implicated Sokol for failing to report or otherwise take corrective action for Gary's misconduct. 

As a sworn temporary judge, Sokol is bound by Canon 3D(1) of the Code of Judicial Ethics - the ethical rules for judges - which requires all judge pro tems "take or initiate appropriate corrective action" when they know of misconduct by another judge. 

The rule is a critical, self-policing component of the Code, intended to keep judge misconduct in check. Sokol was an eyewitness to Gary's misconduct and did not report the incident, a violation of Canon 3D(1). 

Now, four years later, recent proceedings in the case suggest that one of Sokol's objectives is to cover up his own prior misconduct and discredit the victim of Gary's actions by rewriting the history of the case. The strategy involves influencing the current judge assigned to the case through the use of false statements and omissions of material facts about the original incident, and other unethical tactics. 

The case was, and continues to be a definitive example of rampant family court corruption and the cronyism between private sector attorneys who also hold the office of temporary judge and are contracted to run the court's settlement conference program, and full-time Sacramento County Superior Court judges, according to family court reform advocates. 

The court reporter transcript memorializing Sokol’s falsehoods, along with the accurate account of what occurred are posted below. Under state attorney ethics law, including Business & Professions Code section 6106, Sokol’s affirmative misrepresentations are acts of moral turpitude and “constitute a cause for disbarment or suspension” from the practice of law. Virtually any form of attorney dishonesty or deception, including a half-truth, or the omission of material facts, is the equivalent of an outright lie, according to the State Bar. 

Sokol also omitted from his testimony the material facts that two outside judges found Saunders innocent of the charges against him. In addition, an attorney who intentionally deceives a court or any party is subject to misdemeanor criminal prosecution under Business and Professions Code § 6128.

An attorney who intentionally deceives a court or any party is subject to misdemeanor criminal prosecution under California law. Family court reform advocates charge the law is routinely violated by attorneys, and goes unenforced by judges, prosecutors, and California State Bar Chief Trial Counsel Jayne Kim.

For other State Bar references defining and prescribing the punishment for Sokol's misleading statements, visit the SFCN Attorney Misconduct page. Click here. Sokol made several additional demonstrably false statements at the same court hearing, but has never been held accountable for the misconduct. Click here to view other articles in this series. 

Click to visit Sacramento Family Court News on: Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Scribd, Vimeo, and Twitter. For additional reporting about the people and issues in this post, click the corresponding labels below the document. 

Richard Sokol divorce attorney Sacramento caught on transcript making false statements and other acts of mo... by M.P. Roberts