Legal Question in Legal Ethics in California
May a judge today ethically adjudicate a petition for writ of habeas corpus involving issues related to the LA jailhouse informamt scandal [perjury, prosecutorial misconduct, Brady issues including undisclosed payments to informant] when that judge was, at the time of the scandals exposure, a state Dep AG and vigorously opposed those very issues in other cases arising from the scandal?
1 Answer from Attorneys
You can always ask a sitting judge to recuse himself if he has prejudged the issues in the petition for habeas corpus. However, the fact that the judge may have argued the merits of a particular kind of case does not in and of itself indicate that he would find the facts according to a previous contention that he made in his capacity as the state's attorney. You may be able to remove a judge pursuant to CCP section 170 or 170.6 for cause, but the facts you stated do not appear to amount to cause.
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