Since things seem to be pretty quiet here this week (surely not everyone is on vacation!), I thought I'd post another installment from the "glad I'm not in California" album.

In People v. Zackery, a trial judge by the name of K. Peter Saiers got a little too dismissive of the appellate court. In response to the prosecutor pointing out a particular course of action wasn't exactly legal, he said, "Oh right, you can't offend the kangaroos up there in kangaroo court."

In response, the Third District appellate court fired out an opinion. Some highlights:

"It would appear that, in his eyes, this court was a naive, ivory-tower, obstructionist, oblivious to the real-world problems of trial courts faced with staggering caseloads.

This view is not accurate."

and

"But trial judges must understand this overarching fact about the Court of Appeal: despite our awareness of and sympathy for your plight, we have no warrant to disregard the law. Rather, we have all taken an oath to enforce it.

And so, if a trial judge violates the law, even in the name of short-term efficiency, matters are simply made worse. Things have to be done again. More lawyers must be hired, more judges involved, more transportation of prisoners, etc. All at taxpayer expense. It is more expensive to do things twice than to do them once correctly. The truth of the matter is that Judge K. Peter Saiers has wasted taxpayers' dollars."

So was this overreaction or warranted? (And I bet Judge Saiers' next opponent is going to love waving that last sentence around in the next election!)

Seems the appellate court was pretty gentle considering the contemptuous tone of the trial judge. He had earned himself a whooping!

Yes, Andrea, the crazy Brit is now using initials for posting.

JAS

[This message was edited by JAS on 01-08-07 at .]

Following the trend, eh? I'm starting to feel out of place here! Maybe I'll have to modify my name as well.

And welcome back. It's good to see you around again!

And apparently they're neither kangaroos nor a court, and the appeals court eats crow. The local DA wrote in and informed the court that a section of his office is often referred to disparagingly by that particular judge as the "kangaroo court," the "Star Chamber," and the "Grand Inquisitors."

Just goes to show: Life's a zoo.

JAS