Media Sting on Family Court Holiday Lunch: Judges and Lawyers Make Songs and Flyers to Mock Litigants- General Counsel Lisa Herrick Threatens Jane & John Q Public

Court Whistleblowers Alert "Q" To  Family Law Holiday Luncheon

Court insiders and whistleblowers alerted Jane & John Q Public to the Santa Clara County Bar Association's annual holiday luncheon. Court staffers complained the event was coordinated in part by  Judge James Towery, who was reported to have employed favoritism and cronyism when he  excluded lawyers, court staff and members of the Santa Clara County Sherriff’s department from the family law event. The Santa Clara County Bar Association also advertised that Towery would coordinate invitations for court staff using a personal Gmail account,

​What makes this holiday luncheon newsworthy is what happened when hundreds of Santa Clara County Judges, Lawyers and Court Staffers joined together and  sang songs that appeared to mock pro per litigants, and gloat over excessive fees Santa Clara County Judges routinely award a select few of "in" crowd  family lawyers.

Just prior to the luncheon, it was reported to Q, that Judge  Towery had denied the requests of two mothers appearing before him in family court divorce and custody cases, in what appears to be Towery's continued gender and socioeconomically biased rulings that have plagued his family court bench since he was run out of the State Bar for ethics violations. 

One request, Towery was quick to deny,  was made by a mother seeking to protect  her child from being subjected to overnight visits with the child’s father, Ray Mc Donald, former 49er who is facing multiple criminal charges for sexual assault and violation of domestic violence restraining orders. A case being covered by Jane and John Q reporters and members.

The other request was made by a mother seeking to have Towery reinstate her and her college age child to their Los Gatos residence, which also operated as the mother’s publishing business. Towery was well aware the business operated by the mother  had been critical  of Santa Clara County Courts and the State Bar. Towery ruled to render the mother and child homless a week before the Thanksgiving break so a realtor ( closely and sexually tied to Towery), could market the property  and sell it for a huge commission, in what reporters and court watchers observed as pure judiucal retalation based on the mother's  association with the media and groups critical of Towery.  

Towery denied both mothers’ requests, just prior to the holiday,  in what was more than an appearance of  flagrant judicial misconduct and abuse of power, conduct Santa Clara has tolerated in its courts for far too long.
 
Jane & John Q’s investigative reporters Chase Towery and Crash Luncheon

Seasoned investigative reporters, photographers, and videographers, as well as members of Anonymous, crashed the holiday luncheon expecting an opportunity to photograph the very lawyers sitting at the center of current domestic violence issues in Santa Clara County’s family courts. The highest profile of these cases involves the criminal case where former 49er Ray Mc Donald is facing domestic violence and rape charges, which Judge Towery ignored as he allowed Mc Donald to begin overnight visitation with his 15-month-old breast feeding son, a  child Ray had with a  woman San Jose Police documented was beaten by Mc Donald on at least two occasions.

The other case, People v. Mark Edward Mesiti, involves the father who drugged, raped and killed his own daughter after multiple Santa Clara County judges, including Vincent Chiarello and Aaron Persky gave custody to the father, while denying the mother legal fees and ability to protect her own child.

The conduct of the Santa Clara County judges and lawyers attending the holiday luncheon appears to intentionally  mock the victims of domestic violence and rape contained  in  family law cases is unconscionable. Many claimed  the songs appeared to inidcate lawyers  gloating over the excessive fees and costs these victims face as reality in Santa Clara County Courts. 

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Santa Clara Courts Not Humbled by Media or Public Exposure 
 
Santa Clara County’s judges seem unconcerned with how the fairness of the legal system is perceived in relation to family law cases, perhaps because Santa Clara County has been afforded the long arm of protection provided by the Commission on Judicial Performance, where Erica Yew acted as Chairperson, and where no Santa Clara County judge ever faced discipline or scrutiny, until Yew left and Judge Scott and Judge Persky were forced in the bright public spotlight. 
 
Family Court Victims React to Holiday Luncheon Photos & Videos

​When Ray Mc Donald’s victim old saw the photos of her custody case judge, James Towery, juxtaposed with the words of the songs,  she became visibly ill and stated she was more terrified for the safety of her child than ever before.  

​Another mother and Towery victim  stated:

​"It is the most despicable display of judicial conduct  that one could imagine. Towery’s conduct was not just ethically void, it was void of any semblance of humanity and has no place in our legal system. He should he should be removed from all divorce and custody  cases  and barred from ever dealing with the safety or best interests of children."

The State Bar and Santa Clara County have been sanitizing Towery’s ethically challenged conduct for decades, Towery is not immune for his conduct outside the court and members of John Q are calling for his immediate disrobing and for the removal of his tax funded pension.

​Media Personally Disgusted By Santa Clara County Courts

​A seasoned video journalist who had been spontaneously called to assist in documenting the holiday event was unprepared for the videos and images he captured, stating:

" How could those judges and lawyers sing about all the money they have made to "take to the bank" or buy new “Mercedes Benz”, when their rulings have left children homeless and hungry “.

Perhaps the most sickening is the depth in which other government employees support these judges, including court clerks like Jaretta Reser and Santa Clara County’s General Counsel Lisa Herrick who have repeatedly attempted to chill media and public scrutiny of the Santa Clara County bench.

​Santa Clara County's General Counsel Threatens Members of the Public

Immediately following the holiday luncheon, Ms. Herrick had the audacity to accuse members of Jane and John Q of distributing materials at a court attended event, where Judge Mary Ann Grilli and her court clerk, Jaretta Reser, appeared to be singing songs and distributing materials they then accused innocent members of Jane and John Q of doing, clearly to cover their tracks. (Click here for Herrick’s threating email to Jane and John Q)

​Ms Herrick was appointed as the County's General Counsel in 2012 where she had known  ties to the law firm Mc Manis & Faulkner, a lawfirm with a nefarious history  and State Bar investiations for fee gouging of  Santa Clara County  dissolution litiigants. These investigations occured  as James Towery was senior trial counsel at the state bar and criticrized for not addressing attorney  misconduct. John Q has 2015 documentation that shows Mc Manis and Faulkner continue in this pracitce, where their  fee awards have been rubber stamped by judges like Towery and Mary Ann Grilli, a fact that  now appears to be being concealed  by the county's own General Counsel, Lisa Herrick, who has a history  of protecting state bar disciplined  lawyers like Nat Hales, Jr..

​Ms. Herrick would be well served to remember she is paid by the tax payers of Santa Clara County, and answers to the people, not the crooked judges, lawyers and court staff who may give her extravagant holiday gifts and invite her to fancy holiday parties catered by the  San Jose Fairmont