LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles Superior Court judge known to make inappropriate remarks, including threatening to shoot people in his courtroom and suggesting one woman would raise a "meth baby," has been publicly admonished by a state watchdog panel for judges. The Commission on Judicial Performance, the state agency responsible for probing complaints of judicial misconduct and incapacity as ...

The Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles on May 18, 2017.

Al Seib/Los Angeles Times/TNS

LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles Superior Court judge known to make inappropriate remarks, including threatening to shoot people in his courtroom and suggesting one woman would raise a "meth baby," has been publicly admonished by a state watchdog panel for judges.

The Commission on Judicial Performance, the state agency responsible for probing complaints of judicial misconduct and incapacity as well as disciplining judges, issued its findings in August. A public admonishment is typically issued for serious misconduct.

The commission found that while presiding over criminal matters at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles, Superior Court Judge Enrique Monguia made public remarks threatening to "shoot" people or have people "shot" by his bailiff, including attorneys and a retired judge.

The panel said he also engaged in a pattern of improper remarks that "were discourteous and gave the appearance of bias to a crime victim, prospective jurors, defendants, attorneys and others."

Each of Monguia's remarks "constituted an abuse of authority" and violated the judicial rules of conduct, according to the commission's statement on the findings.

Monguia could not immediately be reached for comment. However, the panel said he did not contest the issuance of the public admonishment.

Monguia served as a public defender from 1986 to 2014, when then-Gov. Jerry Brown appointed him to the Superior Court. His current term began in January 2023.

Among the examples of Monguia's misconduct reviewed by the panel included a November 2022 preliminary hearing of a man accused of assaulting a security guard. The man's attorney presented surveillance footage of the attack to show his client was in fact defending himself, and later requested that the charges be reduced to a misdemeanor.

"While announcing his ruling holding the defendant to answer, Judge Monguia expressed his opinion that the video did not show self-defense," the panel wrote. "He stated, 'If it were me, I would have shot him (the defendant), but that's me.'"

In September 2023, Monguia threatened two attorneys who were discussing a case too loudly in his court that if they didn't lower their voices, "he would authorize his bailiff to use physical force, not for the bailiff to shoot counsel, but so Judge Monguia could shoot counsel himself."

The following month, retired Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephen Marcus, who was presiding in another courtroom but not wearing a judicial robe, entered Monguia's courtroom and requested to use the private entrance reserved for court staff, but was denied.

"From the bench, Judge Monguia stated that Judge Marcus was lucky the bailiff was not there, otherwise he would have ordered her to 'shoot' Judge Marcus or words to that effect."

The commission said Monguia's shooting remarks "fostered an atmosphere of intimidation in the courtroom and, even if made in jest, were undignified and discourteous."

The panel said Monguia also engaged in a pattern of making improper remarks to attorneys, defendants, prospective jurors and crime victims.

In one case, he told a defendant who was overweight and having trouble paying fines that he did not appear to be starving. Monguia did acknowledge his comment was "demeaning and wrong."

In another case, he told a prosecutor that a pregnant woman with past criminal drug charges in his courtroom was going to have a "meth baby" who would be "supported by (his) taxes."

The panel said Monguia also made improper remarks to prospective jurors including one woman whom he referred to as a "hot mess" after she disclosed her son's criminal history during jury selection in September 2022.

The remarks also extended to victims of crime, the panel found, including a woman who in March 2023 sought to modify a no-contact restraining order to allow peaceful contact so that she could be present for visits between her son and his father.

Monguia's remarks that day implied that the woman was putting herself in a dangerous situation and creating a burden for her community — including police officers who may have to respond to help her, according to the statement.

The panel said Monguia abused his authority in some cases — including in September 2023, when a woman voluntarily showed up for a bench warrant with her child. The woman's attorney was not present in court, prompting Meredith Gallen, a deputy public defender, to request that she step in and represent the woman.

But Monguia instead ordered that the woman be taken into custody, prompting Gallen to object as there was no one to take the woman's child. The panel provided portions of the conversation between Monguia and Gallen, who objected to the court's position on the matter.

"...I need a second call to speak to my administration because never once in my career have I had a child ripped away from his mother's arm in court," Gallen said, according to the transcript.

"The Court: Well , you haven't been in the office very long then, counsel. I've been here for 30 years…"

The woman was taken into custody but later released and reunited with her child, but not without intervention from the public defender's office.

The commission found that Monguia "failed in a number of ways, to treat the defendant and attorneys with courtesy and respect during this hearing."

Monguia, according to the panel's statement, acknowledged wrongdoing in that case and that his conduct in other cases was improper.

"Judge Monguia expressed regret and remorse for his actions, and said that he had taken steps to address unconscious bias and other matters that contributed to his misconduct."

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