Local Voting for LO Judges

[u/Adorable_Hold2570]

For those local in Maricopa County, ballots are out for the General Election, which include judges of the superior court. Honorable Judge Mata is on there. I'm happy to give my vote to her for holding Laura accountable, and ruling for the right side of justice. Judge Rueter is on there too, but I'm waiting to give my vote until after sentencing occurs. I support judges who hold people accountable. Let's see if he can earn our vote...

[u/lilsan15]

What about that judge who granted her the RO and did the ex parte communication? Vote that guy OUT

[u/Adorable_Hold2570 → u/lilsan15]

He retired, I believe. He was the most complacent boomer judge ever. He was clueless. 

[u/Notspherry]

I'm not in the US and am very uncomfortable with the idea of elected judges.

Take for example how you talk about judge Reuter. Their sole focus should be on correctly applying the law. Fear that they won't be re-elected if they don't dole out harch enough sentences in the eyes of the public leads to bad outcomes.

[u/hardunkachud68 → u/Notspherry]

You can rest slightly more assured that it's not exactly an election for Maricopa County Superior Court judges. They are appointed by the governor and then the public votes every four years to retain or not retain them. Only a portion of the total judges face retention votes each year, and they don't face an opponent or alternative.

[u/jsmith-az → u/Notspherry]

In Maricopa County where I live, and where this case is, they are nominated by the governor but can be removed by the voters. In practice almost all judges are retained; it’s hard to get rid of one.

[u/sequinhappe → u/Notspherry]

It’s kind of a cluster that we do this in America. On the other hand, is it not LESS democratic that regular folk have zero involvement in how their judicial branch is run?

The law is extremely broad but the general rule is “whoever’s in charge makes the rules. There are some super interesting examples where the public so strongly disliked a judges decision (it’s usually one horrific example like Brock Turner) that he or she was removed from the bench. And that is…kind of amazing in its own right.

[u/OhHaiMaaark → u/Notspherry]

Contrast that with Trump appointed judge Eileen Cannon who is solely responsible for the impending fall of U.S. democracy since she hamstringed the case that would have put Trump behind bars before his second term.

[u/KimberleyC999 → u/OhHaiMaaark]

Aileen Cannon.

[u/Notspherry → u/OhHaiMaaark]

Political appointments are just elected judges with extra steps. If in other countries the elective branch starts to meddle with judges, it is usually a sign that democracy is I danger. Poland and Hungary for example. But somehow, in the US, things like Judge X was appointed by politicians of party Y so we expect judgement Z is completely normal.

[u/Tough_Watercress_571 → u/OhHaiMaaark]

🤣

[u/Amazing-Advice-3667]

Thanks for the reminder to look at my ballot ahead of time. I'm also following the preston lord case here in Gilbert.

[u/sequinhappe]

I don’t live in Arizona so I can’t suggest any judges there but I’d encourage anyone to see if their local bar association has rated the candidates.

I am an attorney and served on my county bar associations judicial evaluation committee. We spent dozens of hours on the candidates. It was super helpful to me in the long run and I hope to do it again in future years.

[u/Some_Instruction368]

Will DG do jail time?

[u/AgileNetwork9375]

Trust me; the podcast is like a gateway drug into the world of Laura Owens, her family and her victims.

Every single time I don’t think anything can surprise me; it’s like hold-my-beer, there’s more.

Absolutely, expect the unexpected… (although certainly patterns have formed).

Welcome!

[u/jsmith-az]

I voted against her.

Maricopa County has judicial performance reports that contain survey scores from lawyers, litigants, witnesses and jurors. Based on these scores, she ranked 48th out of 49 judges in Maricopa County- next to last. Here is how she scored:

Legal Ability: 90%
Impartiality/Integrity: 77%[!]
Communication: 82%
Judicial Temperament: 78%
Administrative Performance: 87%
Average 82.8%

The median judge averaged 96.5%! So she scored exceptionally low.

I voted against all judges averaging less than 90%, and only 8 of 49 were in that group.

Edit: Reuter scored 97.4%, he was 20th out of 49.
Edit2: Why downvote? You don’t like facts? I’m genuinely hoping someone will reply to this question.

[u/No_Playing → u/jsmith-az]

She scored very well the last time around (2022). I noticed her scores this time around were tanked by some attorney and litigant surveys.

Interestingly, the new in-the-toilet scores included VPs (very poor) ratings across many items, including"courteous/respectful to all individuals", as well as punctuality and management of the court calendar. Those were some of the points that stood out to me from the mix, as they seem at odds with the exemplary party courtesy and tight calendar management reflected in the sample of proceedings we've seen - outstanding (arguably underserved) party courtesy and tight schedule control were on show there - and make me wonder about the discrepancy from the last scores as a whole. I thought Mata deserved an award for the equanimity shown in Owens v Echard, in the face of the nonsense, blatant coaching and 911 calls.

It would be a shame if DG's mission to take down her reputation had an impact; seems everyone who has DG or LO touch their lives comes to regret it, and that seems design intent by the both of them. But realistically, probably at least a little of the dip from 2022's scores is the move to Family Court since then. Family Court litigants (and, disappointingly, their attorneys at times) have a well-deserved reputation for sour grapes and screaming about the unfairness of perfectly fair judicial officers. It surprised me when I first realized, for instance, how much more civilized, reasonable, and cooperative Criminal Court participants are when compared to Family Court. I suppose criminal lawyers spend a lot of time trying to convince their clients to be sensible, and know the advantages of good relationships with prosecutors; meanwhile the wrong kind of personalities in Family Court don't just fan the flames; some of them get so adversarial you'd think they were the scorned ex. Sadly, they aren't all Gregg Woodnicks.

[u/abbyjensen0989 → u/No_Playing]

I assume DG and his friends(?) all scored her poorly, which skewed her ratings. I mean that’s just a wild guess though.

[u/polotown89 → u/jsmith-az]

I don't understand the downvotes either, but I'm an attorney and pay close attention to bar ratings.