Judge Salvador Sarmiento May Settle Ticket Flap and Latest Alleged Judicial End-Around

 Your right with your response.  I just liked him from personal experience.  If he found me guilty and was rude to people I'd probably be commenting on here that he should be fired!

You're right, asking for a favor is fine. I think the problem here is that, at least on the face of it, it's possible he exerted undue influence. It's not his clerk's job to track his wife's ticket, but since the clerk's boss asked, it was done. Likewise, a traffic commissioner would likely tell you or me to pound sand if we missed our appearance date. A judge in a higher position than a commissioner, one who could recommend/decline-to-recommend a commissioner for a future promotion, could unduly influence an outcome as well. There is this precious notion in this country that it's an even playing field for all when it comes to the law. If that's the case here, we should all be able to get a new trial as the judge's wife did. BTW, if her ticket was B.S., why didn't she fight it? As you say, judges are more reasonable than traffic cops.

no one thought I'd win my ticket in court, people were like "good luck with that."  I knew I ran the light by a milisecond when the light flashed at Bristol & Segerstrom and sure enough, 2 weeks later I got the $480 ticket in the mail ($540 w/ traffic school), I fought it because I didn't morally agree with a camera telling me I broke the law.  I was under the impression that he doesn't normally do traffic, maybe he was filling in or maybe I'm wrong.  He didn't seem to be a fan of the red light camera tickets and I heard him jokingly say "do I have to do this again tomorrow?"  Anyway, my defense was the 6th Amendment, I never denied running the light.  He seemed ok with that defense.  Other defenses I heard that day with the red light tickets were one guy said he had a perfect driving record and that this was unusual for him  and another guy said he couldn't stop quick enough because he didn't want to injure his pregnant girlfriend in the passenger seat and he brought his son's birth certificate to show he was born a week later.  It sounded like he dismissed their tickets too.  Another guy was a computer engineer and he fought the technical details of the camera and the officer who monitors these tickets said he had prior red light defenses. This judge seemed fair to me.  I don't see what is so wrong by asking for a favor like that for his wife.  People in all industries do it all the time.  It was a traffic ticket, not a crime. Maybe based off of experience he knew that her ticket was BS.  I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt on this because I had seen him treat people very respectfully and he was very open minded in court.  And he had a good personality and seemed to relate to people's stories of tickets.  Also, if you get a ticket it's good to fight it, chances are you might still have to pay it but your fees could be dramatically reduced and you can probably still do traffic school.  Just go to court and explain your situation.  Judges seem a little more reasonable than traffic cops.

They will toss him off the bench for not playing the game. Of course the game is that the police write a shitload of revenue producing moving violations, the judges find the defendant guilty and the government collects the cash. It's nothing more than a legalized shakedown of our people because the politicians refuse to raise taxes. 

Thanks for sharing, 949g!

I got a red light camera ticket  in Santa Ana last summer.  I went to court to fight it and Judge Sarmiento was my judge.  He dismissed my ticket and I was found not guilty.  He seemed like a very fair guy.  I listened to him rule on other cases before mine and he seemed to really listen to the people protesting their tickets.  I saw a few people win in court that day even with the officer's that cited them present.  And for those he did find guilty he really cut their fees.  I liked him from personal experience.