State v. City Court of City of Tucson, 18205

• Decision Date: 30 June 1986
• Docket Number: No. 18205,18205
• Citation: 150 Ariz. 99,722 P.2d 267
• Parties: STATE of Arizona, Appellee, v. CITY COURT OF the CITY OF TUCSON; and Honorable Ann Bowen, Chief Magistrate thereof, Appellants.
• Court: Arizona Supreme Court

Page 267

722 P.2d 267

150 Ariz. 99

STATE of Arizona, Appellee, v. CITY COURT OF the CITY OF TUCSON; and Honorable Ann Bowen, Chief Magistrate thereof, Appellants.

No. 18205.

Supreme Court of Arizona,

In Banc.

June 30, 1986.

Frederick S. Dean, Tucson City Atty. by Elisabeth C. Sotelo, R. William Call and Thomas J. Wilson, Tucson, for appellee.

Waterfall, Economidis, Caldwell & Hanshaw by Cary Sandman, Tucson, for appellants.

CAMERON, Justice.

This matter, transferred from the court of appeals pursuant to Rule 19, Ariz.R.Civil App.P., 17A A.R.S., was brought by the Tucson City Court and its Chief Magistrate, The Honorable Ann Bowen, challenging an adverse ruling by the Pima County Superior Court and The Honorable Lillian Fisher, Judge. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Ariz. Const. art. 6, § 5(3).

We must decide only two issues:

1. Whether a policy of the Chief City Prosecutor that requires all Deputy City Prosecutors to routinely disqualify a certain City Court Magistrate, the Honorable Fernando Fajardo, in all DUI (driving while under influence of intoxicating beverages) cases is an abuse of Rule 10.2 of the Rules of Criminal Procedure, 17 A.R.S..

2. Whether the Chief Magistrate of the Tucson City Court exceeded her authority in requiring that Deputy City Prosecutors avow that they acted in the exercise of their independent professional judgment before being allowed to file a Rule 10.2 motion to peremptory disqualify Magistrate Fajardo.

The facts are not in dispute. In September 1984, the Chief City Prosecutor of Tucson promulgated a policy requiring all city prosecutors to disqualify Magistrate Fajardo in any proceeding involving DUI. On 15 October 1984, the Tucson City Court Chief Magistrate, Ann Bowen, issued an order in response to this policy. In her order, Chief Magistrate Bowen set forth statistics on the number of challenges to Magistrate Fajardo during the previous three-week period. During that period 258 Notices of Change of Judge were filed by city prosecutors against Magistrate Fajardo compared to fewer than 50 Notices of Change of Judge filed in Pima County Superior Court during the previous six month period. Chief Magistrate Bowen concluded by ordering that:

each and every Request for Change of Judge filed by the city prosecutor today and in the future, is likewise DENIED ... without examination of the individual defendant's files until such time as proof by avowal of each individual Assistant City Attorney who files such request for counsel that such Request is being filed as an act of independent exercise of professional judgment by the attorney making the Request for Change of Judge and Although the order was not made public a copy of the order was sent to the Chief City Prosecutor William Call.

[150 Ariz. 101] not as a result of an order to engage in the "policy" which has the appearance of being part of an invidiously discriminatory pattern.

Thereupon, the Chief City Prosecutor brought a special action in superior court contesting the order. The City Prosecutor in his petition to the superior court stated the policy as follows:

V

Commencing on or about September 24, 1984, Petitioner by and through Tucson City Prosecutor's Office, began exercising its peremptory rights, pursuant to Rule 10.2, Rules of Criminal Procedure, 17 A.R.S., to require a change of judge in all DUI cases which were set or were to be set before Hon. Fernando Fajardo, Magistrate of the City Court.

VI

The reasons for the implementation of this policy were that Judge Fajardo had consistently been ruling against the State in an arbitrary and capricious manner, both in pretrial motions, and at trial.

The city court response contained the uncontested affidavit of Magistrate Fajardo which stated:

4) That as a result of the office policy of filing notice of change of judge against me, I have had several meetings with City Attorney's office officials.

5) One such meeting was held with Mr. William Call and Mr. Frank Kern of the City Prosecutor's office. A subsequent meeting was held with Mr. Fred Dean and Mr. Call in the presence of Council members, Rudy Bejerano and Charles Ford.

6) That it has been made clear to me at the several meetings that the purpose of the notices of change of judge was to "re-educate me". That is, that the first time period of notices of change of judge that were filed was done to make a point that I would not be allowed by the City Prosecutor to hear cases unless my approach to the law changed. I was told that it was felt that the short period of notices of change of judge was "sufficient" to teach me my lesson.

7) I was specifically advised by Mr. Call that the first period of notices of change of judge "didn't do any good" and as a consequence, as a matter of office policy, notices of change of judge were once again filed against me in DWI cases.

8) I have been advised by officials of the City Prosecutor's office that the notices of change of judge "will not go on forever" but that as my manner of ruling changes I will be "permitted" once again to sit as a Magistrate on DWI cases.

After an evidentiary hearing, Judge Lillian Fisher ruled that the order of the Chief City magistrate should be vacated. The City Court of the City of Tucson and the Honorable Ann Bowen filed a notice of appeal to the court of appeals. We transferred the case from the court of appeals to this court pursuant to Rule 19, Ariz.R.Civil App.P., 17A A.R.S..

WAS THE POLICY AN ABUSE OF THE RULES OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE?

The Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure, 17 A.R.S., set forth a two-procedure scheme for judge disqualification. Pursuant to Rule 10, a judge can be disqualified either for cause, Rule 10.1, or peremptorily, Rule 10.2.

Rule 10.1 requires a party to file a motion verified by affidavit, alleging that the party cannot get a fair and impartial hearing because the assigned judge is biased and prejudiced and specifically alleging the grounds for such a belief. If the motion is timely filed, then the presiding judge shall provide for a hearing on the allegations of bias and prejudice.

By contrast, Rule 10.2 permits a party to disqualify a judge for no cause or reason. Under Rule 10.2, a party may exercise his right to a change of judge merely by filing a pleading entitled "Notice of Change of Judge." No allegation of bias or prejudice is required by Rule 10.2. See State v. Keel, 137 Ariz. 532, 534, 672 P.2d 197, 199 (App.1983). Arizona is part of a minority of three states, along with Indiana and North Dakota, with such a "liberal" rule of disqualification. See Note, Peremptory Challenges of Judges: The Arizona Experience. Law and the Social Order 1973:95. Since the issue in the instant case involves peremptory challenges, we will focus only on Rule 10.2.

Once the Notice of Change of Judge has been filed, the procedure under Rule 10.2 is summary and automatic. If the Rule 10.2 request has been filed timely, then "the case shall be transferred immediately to the presiding judge who shall reassign the case to a new judge." Rule 10.5. Once the notice has been filed, the challenged judge may not proceed further in the action, except to make temporary orders as are necessary in the interest of justice before the action is transferred to the presiding judge. Rule 10.6.

Rule 10.2 on its face applies only to cases in the superior court. We have, however, extended the applicability of Rule 10.2 to non-record courts such as the Tucson City Court. Cain v. City Court of City of Tucson, 135 Ariz. 96, 98, 659 P.2d 649, 651 (1983).

The right of a criminal defendant to a change of judge without cause is zealously protected and on the basis of fairness extended beyond the superior court.

State v. Keel, 137 Ariz. at 534, 672 P.2d at 199 (App.1983).

It is clear that city prosecutors have the authority under Rule 10.2 to challenge Magistrate Fajardo peremptorily. We believe, however, that the exercise of peremptory challenge by the City Prosecutor in the manner and for the reasons described herein was an abuse of the Rules of Criminal Procedure for two reasons.

First, the procedure infringed upon the obligation of each Deputy City Prosecutor to exercise his or her individual professional judgment on a case by case basis. The admitted policy here was to require each deputy as a matter of policy to exercise peremptory challenge to Magistrate Fajardo, regardless of whether the attorney handling the case believed this was mandated. As the Washington Supreme Court has noted:

In our view, this fixed formula which requires a particular action in every case upon the happening of a specific series of events constitutes an abuse of the discretionary power lodged in the prosecuting attorney.

State v. Pettitt, 93 Wash.2d 288, 296, 609 P.2d 1364, 1368 (1980) (emphasis in original).

Second, the policy amounted to an improper attempt to influence a judge in his judicial decisions. The effect of this policy was to bring pressure upon Magistrate Fajardo. We agree with the dissenting opinion of Justice Tobriner of the California Supreme Court who stated:

In my view, the use of "blanket" challenges under section 170.6 to disqualify a judge because of his judicial philosophy or his prior rulings on questions of law seriously undermines the principle of judicial independence and distorts the appearance, if not the reality, of judicial impartiality.

Solberg v. Superior Court, 19 Cal.3d 182, 205, 137 Cal.Rptr. 460, 475, 561 P.2d 1148, 1163 (1977), (TOBRINER, J., dissenting).

The hope of the City Prosecutor was that Judge Fajardo would make rulings favorable to his client. This is always the hope of an advocate and it can most often be realized by adequate preparation and professional exercise of a lawyer's skills. The Tucson City Prosecutor's policy with its attendant effects was an attempt to intimidate not only Magistrate Fajardo but by example the entire Tucson City Court. As such the policy was an abuse of the rules and a...