EVERY JUDGE NEEDS TO READ THIS

 Judge Anthony Kline, at age 83 was the senior most judge on California's First District Court of Appeals. Nearing retirement, he asked to be assigned to Juvenile Court, where he started his judicial career. 

California, unlike Florida, has a new law that allows inmates sentenced to very long sentences as juveniles to petition for release. Kline was assigned the case of Jamesetta Guy, age 58, sentenced at age 17 for her participation in a felony murder robbery. 

First a bit about Judge Kline. He is an advocate for Juvenile Justice Reform. In 2019 he wrote an opinion allowing a lawsuit against the California parole board by a juvenile serving life. The sentence violated the eighth amendment Kline wrote.   In his time on the bench, Kline dissented when his court in 2006 upheld California's same sex marriage ban. He wrote the opinion allowing families of mass shooting victims to sue the gun manufacturer. He wrote an opinion striking down California's cash bail bond system when a person who stole seven dollars could not post a cash bond. Kline is by all accounts a dedicated, thoughtful, liberal jurist. 

Before he was an appellate judge Kline served on the trial bench, starting in juvenile court. In 1981 Kline presided over the trial of Sharon Wright, who along with another juvenile girl, was involved in a notorious and high-profile robbery and murder of a cab driver. Wright was convicted and Kline gave her eight years. Guy was the co-defendant with Wright, but in a series of mishaps and prosecutorial vindictiveness, Guy's case was transferred to adult court, an expected plea to the same eight years was withdrawn and Guy was convicted and 41 years later she was still in prison. 

As the "fitness hearing" unfolded before 83 year old judge Kline, what unfolded was bizarre. It turns out Kline was the one who sentenced Guy to 21 years to life! 

Kline was faced with a judge's greatest nightmare- confronting a person whose life was spent in prison because of a series of mistakes. Kline had to unravel what he did in 1981 and what he could do now. 

When Guy walked into Kline's courtroom 41 years later Kline said "Hi Jamesetta. Remember me?" 

What happened next is an expose in a thoughtful and caring judge's examination into his biggest failure in a career highlighted by many successes. 

Read the NY Times article here. 

This should be mandatory reading for every judge. 

What Judges do have consequences.