James G. v. Superior Court

I concur in the majority’s ruling reversing the trial court’s order denying appellant’s motion for appointment of an expert witness to assist in petitioner’s defense, and ordering the trial court to appoint such an expert.

I dissent, however, from that portion of the majority opinion which concludes that the trial court had standing to appear in this proceeding and argue in support of its ruling.

The trial court is supposed to be the neutral arbiter of the criminal charges against petitioner. By appearing in this court, and advocating affirmance of its ruling denying appellant’s motion, the trial court abandoned neutrality and became an advocate or partisan against appellant. This is inappropriate. (Ng v. Superior Court (1997) 52 Cal.App.4th 1010, 1016 [ 61 Cal.Rptr.2d 49 ] [striking return filed by trial court to petition by criminal defendant seeking to overturn trial court order refusing to reinstate public defender as defense counsel]; Cal. Code Jud. Ethics, canon 3B(9), Advisory Com. Commentary [“[I]n cases such as a writ of mandamus where the judge is a litigant in an official capacity, the judge must not comment publicly.”].) If the error is our fault, because we ordered…

James G. filed a petition for writ of mandate directing the respondent, the Superior Court of Los Angeles County (Superior Court) to vacate its order denying his request for the appointment of a specified expert and to order the appointment of the expert. In the unpublished part I of this opinion, 1 we conclude Superior Court abused its discretion in denying James G.’s request and grant the petition.

*278 The published part II of this opinion addresses: (1) whether Superior Court has standing to defend the validity of its order denying James G.’s request; and (2) the propriety of the county counsel’s representation of Superior Court. As set forth below, we find Superior Court has standing to appear and that it may be represented by county counsel.

Factual and Procedural History*

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Discussion

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II. Representation of Superior Court by County Counsel

A. Factual and Procedural History.

On September 3, 1999, James G. filed his petition for a writ of mandate under seal; it contained confidential information concerning his defense as well the proceedings from an in-camera hearing on his ex parte motion for the appointment of a certain expert witness. On September 30,…