Justice paints complicated relationship with colleague

LOS ANGELES -- Justice Victoria Chaney of the 2nd District Court of Appeal spent Wednesday testifying that her colleague, Justice Jeffrey W. Johnson, engaged in a decade-long campaign of mental and physical harassment against her that included grabbing her breasts and asking her to perform oral sex or have an affair.

But then, under cross-examination about a glowing letter Chaney wrote recommending Gov. Jerry Brown appoint Johnson to the California Supreme Court, Chaney offered a puzzling response.

Reg Vitek, one of Johnson's lawyers, asked if Chaney thought a person credibly accused of sexual harassment would be imminently qualified to sit on the state's highest court.

"It was OK with me," Chaney responded.

Chaney quickly followed up that she believed at the time she wrote the letter that she was the only victim of Johnson's misbehavior. Vitek didn't ask if she still believes he was fit for a seat on the Supreme Court.

Seventeen women have alleged misbehavior by Johnson ranging from bullying to groping that spanned nearly 20 years on two courts. Chaney testified on the third day of a Commission on Judicial Performance discipline hearing that could end with Johnson's removal from the bench. Her testimony was one of the most anticipated moments of the proceeding that is expected to last 19 days.

Chaney is believed to have been the first, or one of the first, women to report Johnson's alleged behavior. And she was the first of four justices expected to testify that Johnson made crude remarks to or about them.

Chaney began the day by describing events she said took place at a conference she and Johnson attended at the University of Nevada, Reno in April 2010. Johnson asked her if she'd ever had an affair, followed her back to her hotel room and rubbed and touched her, she testified.

"Ever sucked a black dick?" she said Johnson asked her.

Commission on Judicial Performance attorney Emma Bradford asked if Johnson was drinking the first night of the conference, when the behavior allegedly began.

"He was quite lit up," Chaney responded.

Other women testified Monday and Tuesday that alcohol played a prominent role in Johnson's behavior with them. And two courthouse custodians testified Monday they saw Johnson return to his chambers late at night obviously inebriated. One said Johnson brought women back to the court after hours and that once two women climbed upon statues.

Several women testified they didn't speak up about his behavior for fear of retaliation or blow-back from the legal community. One research attorney testified Tuesday she remained silent for fear of being shamed as a white person smearing one of the few black justices on the court. Chaney described her own fears about coming forward. She said Johnson had a temper that made her fearful. She also noted that women who have spoken out about bad behavior by powerful men have been pilloried by the press and society at large.

Johnson, 58, is a former federal prosecutor and U.S. magistrate judge. He was seen as a rising star in the legal community and was believed to be on a short list for an appointment to the state Supreme Court.

But it appears Chaney also had a complicated relationship with Johnson. She described him as brilliant and thoughtful. She and Johnson joined the court at a time when there was a lot of turmoil. She feared reporting Johnson would reignite that turmoil, she testified.

"It was not functional before Justice Johnson and I got there," Chaney testified. Besides, she said, Johnson's behavior "was something I thought I could handle, and did."

In addition to writing a professional letter of recommendation for him, Chaney wrote personal notes to Johnson that express a fondness, a fact that his lawyer pointed out.

"Over the period of time he hugged you and grabbed your breast at least 150 times," Vitek commented. Then he aggregated all of the touching, comments and bad acts together and wondered why Chaney would still affectionately refer to Johnson as her "twin brother" or "conjoined twin" in emails and do things like invite him to lunch a couple of times per year.

She also expressed fear for his safety when a plane carrying Johnson and his family home from vacation experienced a storm.

"I am, like many people, complicated," Chaney said.

"So you were worried for him and afraid of him," Vitek said.

But as complicated as her testimony was under cross examination, the story Chaney detailed under direct examination in the morning was stark. She described nine years of harassment, assault and bullying that began in Reno, soon after she and Johnson joined the court. Describing how Johnson escorted her to her hotel room three nights in a row at the conference and came into her room without invitation, Chaney said: "I felt that he wanted sex."

No more than a month after the events in Reno, Chaney said Johnson told her at work one day: "We should have an affair. We're perfect together."

Chaney said she was uncomfortable, thinking to herself, "Oh, my God. What am I going to do now? How do I get out of this?"

Chaney also described being fearful of Johnson's temper.

"I didn't want to open a dialogue about my feelings," Chaney testified about her lack of forceful response when she said Johnson proposed an affair. "I had observed his anger against me or at me in the past and it frightened me."

As a preventative measure, Chaney started writing memos to Johnson about cases on which they collaborated and made sure other people were around when she spoke to him about work.

Her increased caution was not enough to stop Johnson in the summer of 2010 from approaching Chaney after a difficult hearing that left her noticeably distraught, she testified.

Johnson asked her if she was all right, Chaney said, to which she responded she was affected by the hearing. He told her, "He wanted to kiss and squeeze my titties to make me feel better," Chaney testified.

He also made motions with his hands that simulated grabbing, she said.

"I was so shocked and so upset," said Chaney, adding the incident left her either crying or on the verge of doing so. Various instances of sexually charged hugs in which Johnson would grunt and say things like, "You feel good," happened from time to time, she testified. Johnson also ran his hands over her body several times over the course of their working relationship, she said. Johnson would sometimes pat her bottom as he passed her, Chaney testified.

At a court holiday party at a restaurant, Chaney said Johnson approached her and a colleague at the bar.

"I remember that he put an arm around me that managed to attach itself to my left breast."

Chaney said she was incredulous when Johnson told her and the colleague, "You can't sexually harass somebody who's on your own level."

And when Johnson learned he was passed over for an appointment to the California Supreme Court seat, she said he told her:

"A black man is very powerful and people are afraid of the size of a black man's cock."