The appellate brief excerpt embedded at the bottom of this post recounts one instance of Sacramento Superior Court Judge Matthew Gary's alleged misconduct in the high profile Susan Ferris case, in connection with an illegal attorney fee sanctions order. The appeal in the case is pending at the controversial 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento.
The proceedings have been reported by the Sacramento Bee, and are being closely watched by court reform advocates. Interest in the case and family court corruption in Sacramento County on social media, YouTube, and Vimeo has reached viral levels among family court reform watchdogs.
The embedded document package also includes the court reporter transcript from a hearing in the case recording that Gary ordered Ferris to pay $2,500 to the opposing attorney, Timothy Zeff, based on Ferris' "body language."
Zeff's partner, Scott Buchanan, is a part-time judge in the same court. The conflict of interest was not disclosed as required by state law.
Zeff's partner, Scott Buchanan, is a part-time judge in the same court. The conflict of interest was not disclosed as required by state law.
In the same case, the judge approved a criminal, out-of-state child abduction by Zeff's client, David Ferris. Susan Ferris is indigent, did not have an attorney, and is disabled.
Gary's disregard of the law and serial misconduct in the case was considered so outrageous that prominent San Francisco attorney James Brosnahan agreed to represent Ferris pro bono on appeal.
"This is at the point where a lot of us think it's a disgrace," Brosnahan explained in an interview with the Sacramento Bee. "You can't take someone's child and that person doesn't have an attorney when you do...it's an outrage."For additional reporting about the Susan Ferris case, click here. For additional reporting about Judge Matthew J. Gary and his documented history abusing unrepresented litigants, including disabled litigants, click here. Multiple complaints have been filed against the judge with the Commission on Judicial Performance.
Court watchdogs assert that the proceedings in the Ferris case are one example that a still-unprosecuted racketeering enterprise involving collusion between judges and judge pro tem divorce attorneys - set up years ago by controversial Judge Peter McBrien - operates within the family law division of Sacramento Superior Court.
California Judicial Branch whistleblowers - including Ulf Carlsson from the 2014 court corruption documentary film Divorce Corp - charge that to prevent embarrassment to her former coworkers in Sacramento Superior Court and the adjacent, and troubled 3rd District Court of Appeal, Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye has directed CJP Director Victoria Henley to screen out complaints against judges in those jurisdictions.
Former Cantil-Sakauye colleagues and Sacramento County judges Matthew Gary, Thadd Blizzard, Jaime Roman, James Mize, Laurie Earl and Robert Hight have all been caught in repeated, self-evident violations of the Code of Judicial Ethics, yet none has been publicly disciplined by the CJP.
California Judicial Branch whistleblowers - including Ulf Carlsson from the 2014 court corruption documentary film Divorce Corp - charge that to prevent embarrassment to her former coworkers in Sacramento Superior Court and the adjacent, and troubled 3rd District Court of Appeal, Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye has directed CJP Director Victoria Henley to screen out complaints against judges in those jurisdictions.
Former Cantil-Sakauye colleagues and Sacramento County judges Matthew Gary, Thadd Blizzard, Jaime Roman, James Mize, Laurie Earl and Robert Hight have all been caught in repeated, self-evident violations of the Code of Judicial Ethics, yet none has been publicly disciplined by the CJP.
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