Judicial misconduct in Lindsay Lohan DUI case?
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Did two Beverly Hills judges make mistakes in the handling of Lindsay Lohan's 2010 DUI case? They have now been disciplined in the case. A California oversight panel sent letters to the Beverly Hills judges about their handling of Lohan's case. The panel determined the judges crossed the line in two instances.
The Lindsay Lohan case has been painstakingly covered, but now we are learning a few things that happened behind the scenes, things that led to two judges to be disciplined by a state judicial commission.
In 2010 Lohan went to court for a DUI. It appears the judges in the case made some mistakes.
"Judges are elected officials. They need to be held to a standard," said former court spokesman Allan Parachini.
At the time L.A. County Superior Court Judge Marsha Revel met privately with well-known attorney Robert Shapiro. Documents show Shapiro had filed a notice to become Lohan's attorney. It was signed by Lohan.
"Judge Revel had met with Shapiro in chambers with no other lawyers present -- that's inappropriate," said Parachini.
The prosecutor on the case, Danette Meyers, was very upset over this. Confidential letters obtained by Eyewitness News show that Parachini reported this to the Commission on Judicial Performance, saying: "These events resulted in Ms. Meyers complaining that Judge Revel's conduct in meeting with Mr. Shapiro was inappropriate."
Revel recused herself from the case a short time later and it was handed over to Judge Elden Fox, who surprised everyone by what he did next.
"Denied her bail when Ms. Holley, her lawyer, stood to try to take issue with that, he shut her up and told her to sit down," said Parachini. "And you can't deny bail in a misdemeanor."
That afternoon another judge overruled Judge Fox and set Lohan's bail at $300,000.
All of these incidents were reported by Parachini to the judicial commission, which investigated the allegations for almost a year, concluding: "The ! commissi on has considered the matters addressed in your letter and has taken an appropriate corrective action as to each judge."
Monday, Fox responded to this by saying: "The article and Mr. Parachini are inaccurate. Otherwise, no further comment."
Parachini was fired by the court in November 2010 for allegedly leaking information to the media. He denies it, and can't talk about it as part of a settlement agreement. But Eyewitness News asked him Monday if he felt vindicated by what happened.
"Regardless of my departure from the court, I care deeply about the integrity of the court," said Parachini. "And if this can help preserve that integrity, then I think it's a positive thing, not a negative thing."
Lohan's publicist said Monday: "Lindsay is busy at work on her next film and isn't interested in the situation," wrote Steve Honig.
The L.A. County District Attorney's Office did not comment on the case. Judge Revel did not respond to Eyewitness News requests for an interview.
(Copyright 2012 KABC-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
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celebrity, legal, dui, court case, entertainment, carlos granda
