Charles F. Magill is the best candidate for judge
In February 2014, Hon. Robert Oliver announced that he would not run for re-election as a superior court judge. Judge Oliver was a good judge and he served Fresno County well for more than twenty years. I appeared before Judge Oliver on many occasions. He was fair, balanced and respectful of the attorneys and our clients.
Not all judges are "good" judges. Most judges in Fresno County are former prosecutors, a few practiced civil law and a miniscule number are former defense attorneys. Many of the former prosecutors are unable to adopt a fair and balanced approach to the bench.
Prosecutors are punished for compassion
To understand why former-prosecutors make poor judges, you have to understand the job of a prosecutor. The way it is supposed to work is the prosecutor represents the people of California. Citizens of California are entitled to have criminals punished for committing crimes. However there is no perfect method for measuring exactly how many crimes have been committed. Therefore there is no way to know if every crime that was committed was prosecuted properly. We can however count the number of cases that are filed and compare one year with another.
The result is that district attorneys have a motivation to file as many cases as they can and obtain a conviction any way they can. More convictions translates into a larger budget and more influence by way of a larger department with more employees.
Each individual prosecutor should dismiss cases that cannot be proven or are not supported by the evidence. In practice, the prosecutors are told that they cannot dismiss cases without a supervisor's permission. Tactics are used to ensure a conviction. A common tactic is to file very serious charges, even when they are not supported by the evidence. I call this extortion because the prosecutor will usually offer to settle the case by amending the complaint to include less serious offenses.
If a prosecutor dismisses a case because the evidence does not support the charge, they will be punished. Any prosecutor who fails to aggressively prosecute cases, without regard to justice will be overlooked for promotions or possibly transferred to an undesirable assignment. A prosecutor with a heart has almost no chance of being considered for an appointment to the bench.
Heated Judicial Race
There are five candidates for judge Oliver's seat. The five people are Steve Smith, an unemployment hearing officer, Lisa Gamoian, a current Fresno County prosecutor, Jarrett Cline another prosecutor, and Rachel Hill, a former prosecutor. You can read more about each candidate in this article. Fresno Bee article about the race
The only candidate that has never been a prosecutor is Charles F Magill. In the interest of full disclosure, Mr. Magill is a colleague of mine. Mr. Magill practices criminal defense, education law and he represents crime victims as well. I have known Mr. Magill for about nine years.
I support Mr. Magill for judge because he is a man of integrity and I know that he is the best person for the job. Mr. Magill has never had to "sell his soul" by prosecuting people that he believes are innocent just to save his job. Mr. Magill has represented several people, some were innocent and he obtained acquittals for them, others were guilty and he fought for them because everyone deserves an advocate.
Safer Streets vs. Tough On Crime
A popular mantra of the prosecutor is "I will be tough on crime." I wouldn't even say that we should be soft on crime. The problem is that the approach does not work. Simply increasing the punishment for crimes does not work when we cannot afford to staff the jails. In fact, I believe that most people are not concerned with the level of punishment given for a specific crime. The issue that people really care about is safety. Everyone wants our streets to be safe and our property to be secure.
I for one don't particularly care how the government makes the street safe or protects my property from being stolen, except to say that I hope it doesn't bankrupt us to do it. If a judge orders a defendant to obtain a mentor and bring the mentor to court to check on progress, I am fine with it. Currently, most seated judges simply remand the defendant knowing that they will be released for overcrowding within a few hours.
The primary reason I support Mr. Magill is because I call Fresno my home and I know that Mr. Magill will make Fresno safer. The streets will be safer with Mr. Magill on the bench because Mr. Magill will implement innovative solutions to jail overcrowding and budget issues. Mr. Magill has been a small business owner for 25 years, he knows how to solve problems and work within a budget.
You can learn more about Mr. Magill at his website Magill for Judge 2014
