Judiciary
Federal choose reprimanded for handcuffing teen spectator in scared-straight method
A federal choose who ordered a defendant’s daughter handcuffed to warn her concerning the penalties of drug use has been reprimanded by the judicial council of the ninth U.S. Circuit Court docket of Appeals at San Francisco. (Picture from Shutterstock)
A federal choose who ordered a defendant’s daughter handcuffed to warn her concerning the penalties of drug use has been reprimanded by the judicial council of the ninth U.S. Circuit Court docket of Appeals at San Francisco.
Senior U.S. District Decide Roger T. Benitez of the Southern District of California was reprimanded in a May 1 order.
The judicial council concluded that Benitez, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, used “misguided and inappropriate strategies” in an tried scared-straight method that constituted judicial misconduct.
The incident happened throughout a February 2023 parole revocation listening to for Mario Puente, the woman’s father, who had been convicted on a drug distribution conspiracy cost.
Puente instructed Benitez that he needed to go away San Diego to get a contemporary begin. Puente additionally stated he was anxious about his 13-year-old daughter hanging out with the mistaken individuals. And he needed to get her out of San Diego, so she wouldn’t comply with the identical path.
Benitez requested Puente’s daughter to method.
“You bought cuffs?” he requested a deputy U.S. marshal.
Benitez then ordered the deputy U.S. marshal to handcuff {the teenager}. Benitez instructed the marshal to position the teenager within the jury field the place her father was seated. The teenager was crying whereas handcuffed, witnesses stated.
After a brief period of time, Benitez ordered the cuffs to be eliminated. The precise time is unclear; witnesses estimated that the teenager was handcuffed wherever from just a few seconds to 4 minutes.
Benitez requested the teenager how she appreciated {the handcuffs}. She replied that she didn’t prefer it.
Senior U.S. District Decide Roger T. Benitez was reprimanded in a Could 1 order. (Picture by the U.S. District Court docket for the Southern District of California, PD US Courts, by way of Wikimedia Commons)
“Good,” Benitez stated. “That was the message I hoped to get to you. So your dad’s made some severe errors in his life, and have a look at the place it’s landed him. And because of that, he has to spend time away from you. And should you’re not cautious, younger girl, you’ll wind up in cuffs, and also you’ll end up proper there the place I put you a minute in the past. …
“You’re an awfully cute younger girl, and I’ve a sense you may have a beautiful life forward of you. However from what I simply heard about your dad—out of your dad causes me to be very troubled.”
Later within the listening to, Benitez instructed the woman: “I hope the subsequent time you’re tempted to make use of medicine, even weed, OK, even weed, you’ll bear in mind what occurred right here immediately. I hope you bear in mind this imply, outdated face. Take a look at it rigorously. Do not forget that some day, these medicine could land you in a courtroom identical to this. I don’t need that to occur to you, younger girl.”
Benitez additionally instructed the woman that he needed her dad to recover from his dependancy, to return house and to maintain her out of hassle.
Benitez instructed a particular investigating committee that he had hoped to alter the conduct of the teenager and probably her father. He famous that nobody within the courtroom objected to his actions. And he stated he by no means raised his voice, by no means berated the teenager, and by no means stated something to demean or disgrace her.
“Decide Benitez has, at each level, maintained that he acted solely with the perfect intentions towards Mr. Puente’s daughter and her father,” the judicial council stated. “However his good intentions don’t excuse his conduct through the Puente listening to, which displayed misguided and inappropriate strategies that exceeded the authority vested in him.”
The judicial council stated two features of Benitez’s conduct have been impermissible. He had no authority as a district choose to order the shackling of a listening to spectator who is just not participating in or threatening disorderly conduct. And by making a spectacle of a minor little one within the courtroom, he chilled the need of family and friends to assist family members at sentencing.
The judicial council discovered that Benitez violated a number of judicial ethics guidelines. He engaged in abusive or harassing conduct, failed to keep up excessive requirements of conduct as a federal choose, didn’t act in a fashion that promotes public confidence within the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary, didn’t deal with the teenager in a respectful and courteous vogue, and undermined the general public’s belief and confidence of the judiciary.
The judicial council famous that Benitez selected to not be assigned new felony circumstances when he took senior standing in 2017. The judicial council stated it “approves and confirms this association” by limiting Benitez’s new circumstances to civil issues for 3 years. Throughout that point, defendants in already-assigned felony issues can search recusal in hearings for violations of supervised launch.
Reuters, Law360 and the San Diego Union-Tribune have protection of the reprimand. How Appealing linked to among the tales.
Reuters and the San Diego Union-Tribune revealed a short assertion by Benitez.
“I respectfully disagree,” he stated.
