2 California judges who had sex in their chambers disciplined

The state's judicial disciplinary commission censured two California judges Tuesday who had sex in their courthouse chambers - one with two of his former law students and the other with a court clerk.

The actions against Orange County Judge Scott Steiner, who had intimate relations with the former law students, and Kern County Judge Cory Woodward, who misled superiors about his 10-month relationship with a court clerk, are the strongest public reprimand the Commission on Judicial Performance can wield against a judge.

But the commission stopped short of its ultimate sanction, removal from the bench. The panel said it would have recommended removing Woodward for his sexual misconduct and deception, but decided against it because he had been cooperative and remorseful and is regarded by colleagues as "respected, hardworking intelligent and conscientious."

Having sex, even consensually, in one's court chambers is "the height of irresponsible and improper behavior by a judge," and shows "an utter disrespect for the dignity and decorum of the court," the commission said.

Woodward, appointed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006 and elected to a six-year term in 2008, was unopposed for another six-year term this year.

Steiner was elected to a six-year term in 2010. Both he and Woodward are former county prosecutors.

Cooperation in probe

Attorney Paul S. Meyer, who represented both judges in separate proceedings, said both men had cooperated in the investigations and had apologized for their behavior.

The commission said Steiner had sex in his chambers in 2012 with one of his interns and with a local attorney, both of whom had been his students at Chapman University.

Around the same time, the commission said, he wrote a letter of recommendation for the intern, who was applying for a job with the district attorney's office. When she did not get called back for a second interview, Steiner telephoned a lawyer at the office and "sounded perplexed and irritated," the commission said.

Steiner disqualified himself from cases handled by the lawyer with whom he was having an affair, but violated other rules by reassigning those cases to specific judges, the commission said.

Notes and nickname

The panel said Woodward had a sexual relationship with his court clerk from approximately July 2012 through mid-May 2013, used the court computer to exchange personal messages with her, passed "notes of a sexual nature" to her during court proceedings, and allowed her to call him by a nickname in the presence of other court staff.

When the court's executive officer and supervising judge confronted Woodward in early 2013, after a complaint from the clerk's husband, the judge failed to disclose the relationship and told them there was no reason to transfer the clerk to another judge, the commission said.

She was transferred in April 2013, over Woodward's protests, and he finally revealed their relationship to the supervising judge a month later, the commission said.