Placer Judge Busted! Again!

Anthony Pignataro:

Today is not a good day for Placer County Superior Court Judge Joseph W. O’Flaherty. That’s because the state Commission on Judicial Performance has once again busted him for “willful misconduct, the most serious form of judicial misconduct.” Because of his prior 2004 admonishment, the commission chose to publicly censure O’Flaherty.

In a nutshell, back in 2008 O’Flaherty (who’s been a judge for about 20 years) apparently tried to impose a restraining order on a guy who’d just lost a small claims case without going through any of the legal requirements to do such a thing, including allowing the accused to face his accuser, hear evidence, etc. You can click here to read the harsh and uncompromising Decision and Order, but I can’t resist in quoting some of the choice statements:

“Despite his prior discipline and the unanimous conclusion of three special masters that he committed willful misconduct in the present case, Judge O’Flaherty insists that his actions do not amount to misconduct. Judge O’Flaherty’s continued failure to accept the inherent obligation of a judge to adhere to the law and the limits of judicial authority convinces us that he should be publicly censured.

“Judge O’Flaherty was publicly admonished in 2004 for telling prospective jurors in two criminal trials that they could lie to get out of jury duty if they thought they might be racially biased.

“We see a disturbing similarity between the misconduct that resulted in his 2004 public admonishment and his misconduct in the present case. In both cases, Judge O’Flaherty has demonstrated a willingness to circumvent the law in favor of procedures he considers more effective.”

While a public censure isn’t disbarment — the toughest sentence the commission could hand down — but it’s still plenty serious.

Posted Sept. 23, 2010

7 comments

Write a comment
  1. Bill Ferguson
    Bill Ferguson 31 December, 2011, 14:00

    Good Ol’ Joe. Went before him in traffic court (Jan 2008). The CHP had completed the citation with inaccurate info. Stated owner and driver were the same and just wrote “same” in that space. Vehicle was registered to my son in CA and I had a NV drivers license. CHP signs that all is accurate under perjury. Wrote court that the citation was perjured and Ol’ Joe refused to rule saying “not in my court”. As the CHP started his testimony, he again perjured himself, which I called it and Ol’ Joe told me to be quiet. Senseless to let this go I so stated that I immediately appeal. Ol’ Joe puts the citation to his temple, and like Johnny Carson in Carnak, he proclaims that I’m guilty. No testimony about speed, conditions, CHP credentials, or certification of the radar. So, the appeal is heard by whom? Ol’ Joe. In the appeal hearing, the CHP starts to give testimony that was not entered in the first trial and I advise Ol’ Joe that new testimony is not allowed. Ol’ Joe stops the hearing, admits he hadn’t read the trial transcript and ends the appeal hearing – full stop. The appeal was essentially unheard. Then, I get a copy of Ol’ Joe’s Settled Statement and almost all of the statement had never been entered in the record, but he signed as Settled Facts. The DA took most of what was on Ol’ Joe’s Settled Statement and repeated it in his Remittitur. Each submission had response dates. When I hadn’t received the DA’s response, I called the court and they told that it had been sent and my response was due in 2 days. So, I drove to Auburn from Reno to collect their response (a lie that they had sent it?)and submitted my response on time. Then it goes before a 3-judge panel. The hearing is on the docket, but no DA shows. When the case is called (the last one) another DA rushes into the DA office and gets the file. I enter my statements being careful to state CA code that applies and ask the panel if they had read the trial record, appeal record and the statements by Ol’ Joe, the DA and me? No! The DA has nothing to say. It took them less than a minute to rule against me. Talk about a broken, corrupt system and that’s the Placer Court System with its judges and DAs. As for the CHP, I wrote a complaint to the CHP district office in Gold Run; they investigated; then wrote back that the CHP offier had been disciplined. But not Ol’ Joe, the sleaziest Judge I’d ever seen. As I was leaving the first trial court, a local lawyer commented to me that Ol’ Joe had a reputation of being complicit to law enforcement. The date of the first trial there were probably 25 cases. The appropriate law enforcement personnel were there for all of the cases but one – that of a CA Corrections Officer. So, it’s good to see here that Ol’ Joe was found to flaunt the law to his convenience, but the system is definitely broken.

    Reply this comment
    • Mr. Armstrong
      Mr. Armstrong 5 August, 2016, 10:26

      So, how do ya like this ‘ol corrupt liberal state justice system? This is just the TIP of the iceburg, because there’s a HUGE amount below the waterline that you DON’T see, or hear about. Even the state GOVERNOR is swimming in corruption. My wife works in law enforcement, so I hear my share of the behind the scenes bull shit. The ONLY thing that is going to change things, is when people wise up and begin following the Declaration Of Independence. By FORCE, if and when neccessary.

      I’ve had MY share of courthouse bull shit as well in my past, where I lost 2 of my kids to 2 cheating whore wives, who lied under oath to get their ways. I had FATHER’S rights, that were COMPLETELY denied, when I was COMPLETELY faithful to my previous wives. But, the courts ONLY care about WHO HAS MORE MONEY, NOT about justice. And, SOCIETY don’t give a shit, because THEY aren’t affected by it, at the time. But, their time is coming and THEN they’ll start crying about it and boo hooing about how they were burned. My wife I’m married to now for 10 years has no regrets about being married to me, and knows that I was burned by both tramps and corrupt court. What REALLY pisses me off is that I lost my KIDS. So, WHENEVER the publics ready to start kicking the courts ass and taking names, gimme a call? I’ll help lead the way. 🙂

      Reply this comment
      • Susan Knight
        Susan Knight 3 February, 2022, 06:39

        Use of force by police officer threatening me witnessed and court investigator spoke to witness who came to all court dates and motion to suppress was filed officer lied officer Turkov and then prosecutor also lied to court then upon the prosecutor offering a program 1000 with its own offer bypassing the board of supervisors outline if steps to proceed using that and judge makes up terms of a program that isn’t one offered and bypasses all the steps to be accepted into the program that is mandated and even allows exception to the laws to be obeyed or allowed to be disobeyed and upon completing the made up program the prosecutor claims I had been convicted of a crime that was a lie and then judge didn’t hold up his own promise because of prosecutor lie which is easily verifiable instead continues it by setting another date to return that date is today Feb 3 2022 8:30 am all stemming from a search coerced by force threats when no crime no vehicle code violation claiming the state of California as the victim. And all they found in the illegal search was parafanalia no drugs nothing and drugs are a requirement for pc1000 all crap we’ll see what happens next what happened to justice and the constitution? I have evidence and want to stop the injustices please contact Susan Knight 916-730-2660 or email
        [email protected]

        Reply this comment
  2. Catrina
    Catrina 12 March, 2012, 20:02

    Placer County, the only county I have ever heard to convict someone on a traffic violation when the police officer didn’t show up for the hearing. So much for the right to face your accuser….this corruption has got to be stopped

    Reply this comment
    • Mr. Armstrong
      Mr. Armstrong 5 August, 2016, 10:27

      So, how do ya like this ‘ol corrupt liberal state justice system? This is just the TIP of the iceburg, because there’s a HUGE amount below the waterline that you DON’T see, or hear about. Even the state GOVERNOR is swimming in corruption. My wife works in law enforcement, so I hear my share of the behind the scenes bull shit. The ONLY thing that is going to change things, is when people wise up and begin following the Declaration Of Independence. By FORCE, if and when neccessary.

      I’ve had MY share of courthouse bull shit as well in my past, where I lost 2 of my kids to 2 cheating whore wives, who lied under oath to get their ways. I had FATHER’S rights, that were COMPLETELY denied, when I was COMPLETELY faithful to my previous wives. But, the courts ONLY care about WHO HAS MORE MONEY, NOT about justice. And, SOCIETY don’t give a shit, because THEY aren’t affected by it, at the time. But, their time is coming and THEN they’ll start crying about it and boo hooing about how they were burned. My wife I’m married to now for 10 years has no regrets about being married to me, and knows that I was burned by both tramps and corrupt court. What REALLY pisses me off is that I lost my KIDS. So, WHENEVER the publics ready to start kicking the courts ass and taking names, gimme a call? I’ll help lead the way. 🙂

      Reply this comment
  3. MP
    MP 15 May, 2013, 14:47

    Bill,
    Seemed that you handle the case like an expert. I would like to talk to you about a Federal class action against Placer Court. There seems to be a systematic disregard for litigants’ due process. Contact me at [email protected].

    Reply this comment
  4. RoughRider067
    RoughRider067 5 August, 2016, 10:45

    When I was FALSELY accused of spousal abuse and arrested for it, I went to the hearing inside the jail and O’Flaherty was the judge I had to stand before. He was wearing an ANKLE BRACELET FOR A FREAKING D.U.I. AT THE TIME! HOW DO YOU NOT LOSE YOUR JOB AND ARE ABLE TO PRONOUNCE JUDGMENT ON OTHERS, WHEN YOU’RE JUST AS GUILTY???

    By the way, I was given the LEAST amount of punishment for my accusation. My ex called ME up and said, “I’M SORRY! I’M SORRY!”, but my attorney, ANOTHER thief, told me, “DON’T TALK TO HER!” She even said that she would write a written apology letter in my defense, and ADMIT that she scratched herself and that I was INNOCENT, but the courts only care about how much MONEY they can get out of me, so THAT’S why I was told NOT to have contact. I NEVER contacted HER, SHE contacted ME, so I was NOT witness tampering. But, thanks to O.J. Simpson for fucking up the state laws with his murdering of Nichole Brown and Ronald Goldman. May HE rot in his prison cell TOO.

    They say that cheating on the spouse ISN’T a crime? Then, WHY NOT? It’s a VIOLATION AGAINST an OFFICIAL OATH/PROMISE and would stop a WHOLE LOT of b.s. in the courts and save people HEART ACHE from being ripped off from these slimeball types who get married for the wrong reasons. PLUS, if they try to falsify a claim against their spouse, just to have them kicked out, so they can have their new boyfriend/girlfriend move in, then the false claimer should be arrested and thrown in jail on false accusations.

    Reply this comment

Write a Comment

Leave a Reply


Related Articles

California health exchanges – ‘Mo Money’

Dec. 28, 2012 By Katy Grimes The Obama administration has a lot riding on California’s implementation of Obamacare, also known

Prince of a governor?

Prince Frederic von Anhalt, 65, wants to be Governor of California. He believes in legalizing marijuana, Cuban cigars and prostitution and

CA cities, counties ask for Supreme Court’s help on homelessness

Rushing to meet last week’s deadline for filing amicus briefs, dozens of local governments and other groups in California have