Justice sobs as educator describes how he mentored her

LOS ANGELES -- Justice Jeffrey W. Johnson of the 2nd District Court of Appeal sobbed for 5 minutes as a woman he mentored told a disciplinary panel Friday how he had inspired her.

The woman was one of the first witnesses called as Johnson's attorneys began putting on a defense to a broad ranging of misconduct allegations that could end with his removal from the bench.

A former presiding justice of Johnson's division of the court testified he never heard Johnson use foul language to describe female colleagues, but if he had he would not have been shocked or alarmed. He also said no one had brought to his attention any allegations of sexual harassment by Johnson.

"He inspired me," said Genoveva Cortes, an employee at a Los Angeles charter school where Johnson volunteered. Johnson cried audibly as she spoke about their mentor-mentee relationship and his positive influence om the lives of several underprivileged children attending the school. The hearing proceeded without pause.

Cortes said Johnson's encouragement inspired her to apply, be accepted and eventually graduate from Harvard in the field of education.

Several of Johnson's witnesses gave conflicting versions or different interpretations of events that were related by judicial officers, court employees and other witnesses called by Commission on Judicial Performance examiners during the first eight days of the hearing before a special masters panel.

One of the first witnesses Friday was retired 2nd District Presiding Justice Robert Mallano, who said he had no knowledge of sexual harassment allegations against Johnson and would not have reported abusive language leveled at other justices had he heard it.

Mallano, who retired in February 2014, testified he made a special determination to look out for Johnson and Justice Victoria Chaney when they came into the court's Division 1 in the summer of 2009.

"I kind of felt it was my obligation to mentor them," Mallano said. "I wanted to bring both of them into the system."

Chaney was one of the chief witnesses against Johnson, testifying to his sexual comments, propositions and unwanted touching of her breasts and bottom over several years.

Part of Mallano's motivation in smoothing the transition of Chaney's and Johnson's arrival on the court was a history of justices not getting along, he said. "There was conflict," Mallano testified, between two justices he wouldn't name, prior to the new arrivals.

Under cross-examination from Commission on Judicial Performance examiner Emma Bradford, Mallano said he was not surprised that Chaney did not report the alleged sexual harassment.

"Would it be fair to say that no woman has ever reported to you that they had been sexually harassed?" Bradford asked. Mallano said it was accurate to say that and that he understood why Chaney might not report misbehavior.

"If she would have told me that and it comes out it public ... it would be a disaster." Mallano testified.

Bradford also asked whether Johnson had ever refereed to female colleagues as "nasty ass bitches" in his presence.

Mallano said he had not, but noted that if he had, it would not have raised an alarm for him.

"It's not shocking, no," Mallano said of the language. If he had heard it, "I would have ignored it," Mallano said. He would not report a colleague for what he considered a minor infraction, he added. "Not for one errant, two errant words flying out."

Johnson's attorney, Paul S. Meyer of Costa Mesa, asked, "Did you know that in 2014 Justice Chaney had made statements that Justice Johnson had made gross and crude statements to her?"

Mallano said while he was unaware of any abuse, he did have a good relationship with Chaney.

"Did Justice Chaney talk to you about issues?" Meyer asked.

Mallano replied that she did and that he did the same with her.

If she had reported Johnson's abuses, "I would have discussed with her what her options would have been," Mallano said. If he had heard about a sexual harassment issue with Johnson, he was confident they had the kind of relationship where he could approach Johnson, tell him to stop the alleged behavior and Johnson would do so, Mallano testified.

The retired justice said he'd never witnessed Johnson doing anything inappropriate, including drinking, yelling or being abusive toward underlings -- which are accusations raised by the examiners' witnesses.

Mallano testified that a meeting with his division justices and a psychologist was offered by the administrative office of the court. The meeting was "offered to us to do some collegiality building for the court," and sexual harassment was never discussed, Mallano said.

Roger Smith, a research attorney who worked for Johnson, testified that on average Johnson was present in court three days a week. Smith knew Johnson as a kind person with a shrewd legal mind, and capable of "laser focus."

Smith said he never experienced Johnson being out of pocket for long periods of time, being unresponsive to emails for more than a couple of days, or regularly needing to be reminded of work that was needed from him.

Prior testimony from Carolyn Currie, a judicial assistant who worked for Johnson, was contradicted by Smith, who said he never saw Johnson raise his voice toward Currie or anyone else.

Michelle Iarusso, of Iarusso Dagher in Pasadena who was close to a prior witness, Allison Schulman, testified to her remembrance of a text message exchange where Schulman related harassment from Johnson at a reception for the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles. Iarusso said she couldn't recall the text exchange and her current interpretation of them is they were a joke.

Further, Iarusso said both she and Schulman were drunk at the reception, and she left before Schulman.

Allison Schulman, a Los Angeles sole practitioner who met Johnson as a young attorney, said that while at a reception for the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles with many other people present Johnson harassed her physically and verbally.

During her testimony, Schulman had said Johnson regularly touched her arm and stomach in order to turn her body around to face him. When she began to leave to walk to her car with another attorney, Schulman testified, Johnson cornered her, grabbed her wrist and began badgering her to not go home with the other attorney.

Schulman said she was just going to her car but Johnson pressed on, eventually telling Schulman the other attorney "was going to rape you."

Toward the end of the interaction, Schulman said, Johnson told her he knew various police officers and if he didn't hear from her that she got home safely he would send them out to look for her. "He was being very whiny," Schulman said.