Commission on Judicial Performance v. Superior Court

A few months after Eric Davidson was charged with four felony counts, the trial court (Hon. Keith L. Schwartz) denied his pro se motion to suppress evidence. (Pen. Code, § 1538.5.) In response, Davidson complained to the Commission on Judicial Performance about Judge Schwartz. The case was thereafter assigned to another judge (Hon. Antonio Barreto, Jr.) who presided over a jury trial at which Davidson was convicted as charged. Davidson moved for a new trial, filed a Pitchess motion (Pitchess v. Superior Court (1974) 11 Cal.3d 531 [ 113 Cal.Rptr. 897 , 522 P.2d 305 ]) in which he sought information from the Commission on Judicial Performance about all complaints filed against Judge Schwartz, and served a subpoena duces tecum on the Commission ordering it to produce the same information. Over the Commission’s objection that the requested records are confidential, the trial court denied the Commission’s motion to quash the subpoena and ordered it to produce for an in camera hearing “any declaration or statement made by Judge Schwartz in response to [any] inquiry made by [the] Commission [in response to Davidson’s] complaint about Judge Schwartz.”

In response to the…