US judge reprimanded for handcuffing defendant's daughter during sentencing

Senior U.S. District Judge Roger T. Benitez of San Diego was publicly reprimanded Wednesday by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judicial Council for handcuffing the 13-year-old daughter of a criminal defendant during a sentencing hearing.

The incident happened Feb. 13, 2023, when the defendant in a methamphetamine distribution case, Mario Puente, expressed a desire to avoid supervised release and leave San Diego after his jail sentence because his daughter was "following the same footsteps as I am right now" because she was around a bad crowd and smoking marijuana.

Benitez asked the girl's name and instructed her to approach the front of the courtroom, then told the deputy marshal to "put cuffs on her."

The judge then told the marshal to escort the girl to the jury box, where her father sat. He then let her out and gave her a short lecture while she cried. Witnesses disagreed about how long the girl remained handcuffed, between a few seconds or four minutes.

"So your dad's made some serious mistakes in his life, and look at where it's landed him," Benitez told her in what the ruling said was a stern but calm voice. "And as a result of that, he has to spend time away from you. And if you're not careful, young lady, you'll wind up in cuffs, and you'll find yourself right there where I put you a minute ago."

The 9th Circuit Judicial Council ruled that Benitez "took it upon himself to order Mr. Puente's daughter to be handcuffed for the purpose of teaching both the girl and her father a lesson about the consequences of drug use" even though the judge acknowledged in a written statement counseling, therapy and mental health treatment are the best ways to deal with the problem.

"The Judicial Council finds two features of this conduct impermissible," the panel wrote. "First, the shackling of a spectator at a hearing who is not engaged in threatening or disorderly behavior exceeds the authority of a district judge.

"Second, creating a spectacle out of a minor child in the courtroom chills the desire of friends, family members, and members of the public to support loved ones at sentencing," the judges added. In re Complaint of Judicial Misconduct, 23-90037; 23-90041 (9th Circ., opinion filed May 1, 2024).

The panel was led by 9th Circuit Chief Judge Mary H. Murguia and included four other 9th Circuit judges along with four chief district judges and a senior district judge. It cleared Benitez of allegations surrounding his statements to the son of another man who was in court on the same day for violating his supervised release.

In a statement, Benitez wrote of the reprimand: "I respectfully disagree with their conclusion."

During the investigation by a Judicial Council special committee, the judge declined to present oral evidence or argument but did submit written responses to each complaint, the order stated. He wrote that he felt he had the opportunity "to possibly alter the destructive trajectory of two lives."

"Benitez argued that, by having Mr. Puente's daughter submit a letter before Mr. Puente's sentencing, the 'Federal Defenders injected [Mr. Puente's daughter] into Mr. Puente's sentencing by telling [him] how much she loved her father,' which he felt constituted "[e]motional manipulation,'" the report stated.

The Judicial Council panel wrote that Benitez was being reprimanded for engaging in abusive or harassing behavior, failing to maintain high standards of conduct as a federal judge, failing to act in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary, failing to treat Mr. Puente's daughter in a respectful and courteous fashion and undermining the public's trust and confidence in the judiciary.

In its order, the Judicial Council wrote that Benitez, an appointee of President George W. Bush, has not been accepting new criminal cases as a senior judge and confirmed that arrangement "by limiting Judge Benitez's designation of approved judicial duties as to newly-assigned cases to non-criminal civil matters for three years."

Following last year's hearing, Chief Judge Dana Sabraw of the Southern District of California reassigned the Puente case from Benitez to U.S. District Judge Robert S. Huie.

Mayra Lopez, an attorney with Federal Defenders of San Diego Inc., asked for a sentence of time served instead of the 10 months behind bars previously recommended considering the Feb. 13 incident.

"Judge Benitez's actions caused psychological damage and harm to Mr. Puente's daughter," Lopez wrote, in language echoed by the unidentified complainant in the misconduct claim. Huie amended the defendant's sentence to time served.

Lopez could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Kasha Castillo, executive director of Federal Defenders of San Diego, wrote: "We think the order speaks for itself."