A judge in the Los Angeles County Superior Court well known for making controversial remarks while behind the bench, even threatening to have people shot in the courtroom, has been publicly admonished by the state agency tasked with investigating reports of judicial misconduct.
Judge Enrique Monguia, a former L.A. County public defender appointed to the bench in 2014 by then Gov. Jerry Brown, chose not to contest the Commission on Judicial Performance’s public admonishment, a report generally issued in cases of egregious conduct.
The commission’s report, dated Aug. 28, found that Monguia, while presiding over criminal matters at downtown L.A.’s Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, not only threatened gun violence against two attorneys and a retired judge, but also made numerous remarks considered ‘discourteous and gave the appearance of bias to a crime victim, prospective jurors, defendants, attorneys and others.”
In one Sept. 2023 instance, the judge told two attorneys in his courtroom that he believed were discussing a case too loudly, that “he would authorize his bailiff to use physical force, not for the bailiff to shoot counsel, but so Judge Monguia could shoot counsel himself,” if they did not lower their voices.
A month after that, retired L.A. County Superior Court Judge Stephen Marcus, who was working in a different courtroom, entered Monguia’s courtroom without his judicial robe and was denied access to a private entrance reserved for court staff.
Judge Monguia told Judge Marcus that he “was lucky the bailiff was not there, otherwise he would have ‘ordered’ her to shoot Judge Marcus or words to that effect.”
“The commission found that Judge Monguia’s remarks about shooting people, or having people shot in the courtroom, constituted an abuse of authority, fostered an atmosphere of intimidation in the courtroom and, even if made in jest, were undignified and discourteous,” the report stated.
According to the panel, it was not just attorneys and judges who were the focus of comments made by Monguia.
In other instances, he told a prosecutor that a pregnant woman who had prior drug charges was going to have a “meth baby” that would be “supported by [his] taxes,” and told an overweight defendant who was having issues affording fines that he didn’t like he was going hungry.
During jury selection in a Sept. 2022 case, he called a potential juror whose son had a criminal history a “hot mess.”
In a written statement obtained by the Los Angeles Times, a spokesperson for the L.A. County Superior Court stated that disciplinary issues are confidential but added:
“Court leadership reaffirms its conviction that judicial officers must uphold the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary by administering justice fairly and exemplifying the highest standards of conduct — both on and off the bench.”
The commission said that Judge Monguia “generally acknowledged that his conduct was improper.”
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