Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

how to change a judge in california criminal cases

I had this judge before and he treated me as a guilty person after a year of fighting my case he realized i was innocent and he personaly apoligized to me when i was dismissed and now they trying my son on a matter and i dont see any fairness i cant afford a criminal lawyer so the public defender seems to be a public pretender and has bad attitude also i am attending college in criminal law so please if you can help thanks


Asked on 8/23/11, 2:50 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Kimberly Burke Law Office of Kimberly R. Burke

Your attorney can file a document that permits the case to be sent to a different judge. In every case you can do this one time...no questions asked. Ususally criminal cases are in a "master calendar" system and that judge will send your case to another department for trial anyway. Most motions are also sent to an empty department (trial department). If you are going to use your 1 time opportunity, you most likely want to wait until you have a trial judge assignment. The master calendar judge really doesn't have much impact on a case other than continuances, setting dates, or if you enter a plea without working out the deal (charge, counts, and sentence). If there is an agreed upon plea with the DA, the judge taking the plea really won't matter.

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Answered on 8/27/11, 5:29 pm


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