Witness says he passed high school gossip to justice that spread around courthouse

LOS ANGELES -- An attorney testified Tuesday he was the source of information Justice Jeffrey Johnson spread around the 2nd District Court of Appeal about the alleged high school sexual activity of a fellow justice's assistant.

Sole practitioner Arash Goleh, who said Johnson was a father figure who encouraged him to remain in law school, was called as a witness by Johnson's attorneys in the third week of a Commission on Judicial Performance disciplinary hearing that could result in his removal from the bench.

Johnson has either denied, or argued misinterpretation and exaggeration in response to accusations from 17 women, including fellow justices, that he made physical and verbal sexual and bullying assaults on them.

Goleh said in Tuesday's hearing that some 20 years earlier he had attended the same high school as a prior witness, alleged victim Trisha Belez, a judicial assistant to 2nd District Court of Appeal Justice Victoria Chaney, who herself accused Johnson of groping her and making sexual remarks to her over a 10-year period.

In prior testimony, Belez said Chaney told her Johnson had related that Belez was "wild" in her youth.

"What did Justice Chaney tell you Justice Johnson had said?" Commission on Judicial Performance examiner Mark A. Lizarraga asked during that testimony.

Belez said Chaney told her Johnson had related to justices at the courthouse that Belez had run away from home and stayed with a friend during her teen years, information apparently gleaned through Johnson's friendship with a man Belez had gone to high school with.

Goleh testified Tuesday he was that man.

"When you knew Trisha Belez ... did you speak to her about her relationship?" Commission on Judicial Performance examiner Emma Bradford asked Goleh on Tuesday.

Goleh said he knew Belez because she was dating a Muslim friend of his. He also said Belez lived in a strictly religious Jehovah's Witness household and consequently hid the relationship from her parents."Did you ever tell Justice Johnson that Ms. Belez had been sexually promiscuous in high school?" .

"Uh, she had sex with my friend," Goleh said, adding in answer to questions that he didn't have any qualms about disclosing the intimate details of a person's life whom he hadn't spoken with in 20 years.

"It was two friends talking," Goleh testified about his conversations with Johnson.

Goleh also said Johnson once made a comment to him about Chaney, something to the effect of, "We were on this trip and she made a pass but I didn't continue."

During her earlier testimony Belez said she was horrified that such stories were circulated about her. She also testified to the stresses of trying to avoid Johnson after he was allegedly inappropriate with her in a coffee shop.

"At first I was trying to avoid him because of the coffee offers," Belez said, referring to the justice's repeated invitations and that he allegedly blew kisses at her and told her he loved her.

In his cross examination of Belez, Johnson's attorney Paul S. Meyer of Costa Mesa had focused on her confiding in Johnson that her husband had been a philanderer.

"Did Justice Johnson express a sympathetic and supportive remark to you?" Meyer asked.

The remark Meyer referred to was testified to by Belez in her prior day's testimony.

"He said that if he was married to me he would never leave my bed, and that he liked me," Belez testified. She said she told him firmly to "stop it." Belez reiterated that she did not believe the remark was meant to be supportive; she instead believed it to be a come-on.

Other witnesses called Tuesday included Fresno County Superior Court Judge Gary Orozco, called under subpoena, who said he and Johnson worked well together when they both were on the same working group; and 5th District Court of Appeal Justice Brad Hill of Fresno who said he and Johnson worked on a committee together. James Metzger, an attorney from Cleveland, testified that when he clerked for Johnson he found him to be a legal virtuoso. "He could be forceful," Metzger said, "I always felt impressed by his knowledge of the law and his commitment to see that justice had been done."