Sonoma County judge moved after numerous challenges

A Sonoma County judge who received a flurry of peremptory challenges in December and January, effectively barring him from hearing cases, has been moved to a less-visible courtroom in what critics are calling an egregious example of judge shopping by District Attorney Jill Ravitch.

Ravitch denied any concerted effort to disqualify Judge Peter Ottenweller - or any other judge - saying that individual prosecutors seek to transfer cases when they deem it necessary.

Ottenweller, a former defense attorney who joined the bench in 2010, became the target of repeated ?disqualifications after he was transfered from a civil law courtroom to a felony trial assignment as part of an ?annual shuffling of judicial posts. Before he even took his seat, prosecutors began disqualifying him under a law that allows anyone to switch judges if they feel the judge is biased against them.

Ottenweller was “papered” 15 times in December and 27 times from Jan. 1 to Jan. 17, accounting for more than half of all peremptory challenges filed on the court’s ?23 judges and commissioners during the period, according to Sonoma County Superior Court data.

About two weeks ago, building maintenance workers removed Ottenweller’s nameplate from his door and moved it down the hall to a domestic violence court. Judge Jennifer Dollard, appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown in November, took his place.

Joe Stogner, a Santa Rosa defense attorney and Empire College School of Law professor, called it a “bullying tactic” meant to discourage judges from making unfavorable rulings. Last year, Ottenweller ordered prosecutors to undergo remedial evidence disclosure training following a murder trial.

“It sends a message to everyone that they’re going to throw their weight around,” Stogner said. “I don’t think that’s healthy.”

Ravitch said there was no organized campaign by her office to disqualify Ottenweller. Prosecutors, working with their supervisors, “exercise challenges when they think they are appropriate,” she said.

“Every case is evaluated by the attorney assigned to it to decide if it should stay in that court,” Ravitch said.

Ottenweller did not respond this week to repeated requests for comment.

Then-acting presiding Judge Brad DeMeo said Ottenweller did not request the move. DeMeo said Ottenweller was moved in mid-January for multiple reasons including maintaining efficient court operations. He declined to elaborate on the other reasons for the move, but said disqualifications were not a primary factor, he said.

He noted the court is prevented by its ethical code from investigating the source of disqualifications.

“It may not be related to what it looks like on the surface,” DeMeo said.

Sonoma County prosecutors have singled out judges for disqualifications before. In 1996, then-District Attorney Mike Mullins disqualified Judge Raymond Giordano from hearing all criminal cases, saying he wasn’t tough enough.

The unprecedented and widely criticized move caused a rift between the bench and Mullins, who judges said was behaving as if he controlled the entire courthouse.

Giordano, who was reassigned to the civil division, fought the ban all the way to the state Supreme Court, which let stand an appeals court ruling in favor of Mullins.

Mullins launched a similar campaign against Judge Robert Boyd in 2001 before he lost re-election to then-deputy district attorney Stephan Passalacqua. At the time, Mullins was criticized for eroding judicial independence.

“It’s really an abuse,” said another longtime Santa Rosa lawyer, Steve Gallenson. “I didn’t like it when they did it to Giordano and I don’t like them doing it to Ottenweller.”

Court statistics show Ottenweller had the most disqualifications in 2017. The data does not specify who requested the judge’s removal.

Of the 137 total challenges, Ottenweller had 25 followed by Judge Nancy Case Shaffer with ?23. Family law judges James Bertoli, Boyd and Commissioner Becky Rasmason were next with 16, 15 and 14 disqualifications, respectively.

In the first part of January, Ottenweller had 27 of 54 total disqualifications. Judge Raima Ballinger had 14 and Judge Shelly Averill had four.

Since his move to domestic violence court, Ottenweller has received no disqualifications from prosecutors, officials said.

You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 707-568-5312 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com. ?On Twitter @ppayne.