LA judge admonished for sneaking into colleagues' chambers after hours

A Los Angeles judge was publicly admonished Tuesday for entering "the chambers of other judges without permission, after court hours."

The Commission on Judicial Performance found that Judge Daviann L. Mitchell also made "improper comments to a criminal defendant" during a discussion of a plea deal. A news release noted, "Mitchell's misconduct was aggravated by prior discipline."

Speaking through her attorneys, Mitchell apologized for her actions and said she plans to remain on the bench.

"This admonishment addresses conduct that occurred during a period of extreme personal and professional stress, resulting in a perfect storm where I lost my way and engaged in behavior that does not reflect the person I know myself to be," Mitchell said in a statement emailed by Heather L. Rosing, founding partner of Rosing Pott & Strohbehn in San Diego. "These choices were my own for which I take full responsibility."

"On multiple occasions in 2023, Judge Mitchell entered the chambers of Supervising Judge Denise McLaughlin-Bennett and Judge Kathleen Blanchard after court hours, without their permission," the commission stated in its decision. "At the time, Judge McLaughlin-Bennett supervised Judge Mitchell. Judge Mitchell was serving as the court's assistant supervising judge."

McLaughlin-Bennett took several steps after she learned Mitchell was entering her office, the decision added. These included relocating confidential documents, advising judicial officers to lock their computers at night and installing security cameras. She eventually changed the locks of her chambers "because of Judge Mitchell's continuing unauthorized entries."

Mitchell also repeatedly went into Blanchard's chambers, looking at papers that "were not court files or documents necessary for Judge Mitchell to perform her judicial or administrative duties." The decision did not specify what Mitchell was looking for on these occasions.

According to information posted on the Los Angeles County Superior Court website, Mitchell is now assigned to a different courthouse than Blanchard and McLaughlin-Bennett.

The commission acknowledged "Mitchell's expressions of remorse" and the mitigating "impact of personal and professional stressors on her mental health." But it added that her behavior was "entirely at odds with the behavior expected of judges" and violated several judicial canons.

Mitchell had a usual path to the bench, attending law school after an injury led her to retire from her job as a Sacramento police officer. She spent 12 years as a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles, prosecuting gang murders, domestic violence and sexual assault.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Mitchell to the Superior Court in 2006. She was automatically reelected in 2012, 2018 and 2024 because she never faced an opponent.

Mitchell is also an avid dog breeder. In 2003, a Rottweiler from her line won Best of Breed at the American Kennel Club's Westminster Show in Madison Square Garden, she told the Daily Journal in a 2007 profile interview.

In 2010, the commission sent her an advisory letter "for failing to disclose on the record her extensive involvement in dog breeding and handling in a case involving criminal abuse of dogs, commenting on the defendant's motion to disqualify her for cause, and remanding the defendant into custody in a manner that appeared to be retaliatory," the decision stated.

She has also overseen several trials involving minor celebrities. Mitchell signed off on a six-year manslaughter plea deal for former Power Rangers actor Ricardo Medina Jr. for killing his roommate in what he claimed was self-defense. In 2015, a jury in her courtroom convicted former Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders defensive lineman Anthony Wayne Smith of three counts of murder. She declared a mistrial on the murder of a fourth victim.