Judge Is in More Hot Water Over Felon’s Character Reference

A Beverly Hills judge who is being prosecuted in an alleged ticket-fixing scheme may have violated the the state Code of Judicial Conduct in another matter by writing a laudatory character reference for an acquaintance who was about to be sentenced for selling fake driver’s licenses.

In the March 22 letter, written on courthouse stationery, Beverly Hills Municipal Judge Charles D. Boags identified the defendant, Omar Ali, 48, of Los Angeles, as a “hard-working individual� whom Boags had known for “at least� eight years.

Ali, Boags said, “has been trying to become a productive member of society. If you need some help, he will always be there to help. Sometimes this quality can get you into trouble. . . .�

Ali, who is known by at least seven other names, has a criminal record dating to 1962, according to a pre-sentence report prepared by the Los Angeles County Probation Department. Among other crimes, Ali has been convicted of shoplifting, grand theft and kidnaping, the report states. He served nine years in prison for the 1970 kidnaping conviction.

The second canon of the Code of Judicial Conduct states in part that a judge “should not lend the prestige of his office to advance the private interests of others. . . . He should not testify voluntarily as a character witness.�

“There is some concern that, at least by my standpoint . . . the canons of judicial ethics have been violated,� said Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Lawrence E. Mason, who prosecuted Ali.

Through his clerk, Boags said Friday that he would not comment on Mason’s concerns.

Boags’ attorney, Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., said: “I don’t think it’s a violation. . . . (Boags) is a person who is always willing to try to help somebody. I think that if this were written on his own personal stationery, there would be no question about impropriety. I think it’s just a misunderstanding.�

In an as-yet-unpublished advisory opinion, the Ethics Committee of the California Judges Assn. will take the position that a judge may write a letter of reference when the letter is submitted in response to a summons or formal request from a court or other government agency, the committee’s co-chair, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge G. Keith Wisot, said Friday. Wisot said he would not comment on any specific case.

Ali’s pre-sentence report states that the letter from Boags was submitted by Ali. There is no indication that the Probation Department solicited the letter.

Mason said his office has not decided whether it will forward a copy of Boags’ letter to the California Commission on Judicial Performance, the body that investigates complaints against the state’s judges and recommends disciplinary action to the state Supreme Court.

“If it’s appropriate, we would notify the commission,� Mason said. “We haven’t had an opportunity to determine whether it’s appropriate to do that.

“I have never observed a sitting judge to write a character reference letter on behalf of a criminal defendant, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened before. . . . It does seem inappropriate.�

Ali, who listed his occupation as “inventor� on the pre-sentence report, pleaded guilty to a single bribery charge on March 9 in Los Angeles Superior Court. He is serving 120 days in Los Angeles County Jail as a condition of the probation granted by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Bernard Kamins.

According to the pre-sentence report, Ali arranged for a friend who worked at the state Department of Motor Vehicles to issue five fictitious driver’s licenses, at a cost of $150 apiece, to a man who turned out to be an investigator for the district attorney’s office.

In an earlier case in which Ali pleaded guilty to a charge of grand theft, Beverly Hills court records show that he appeared before Boags at least four times. In a proceeding on April 20, 1983, for example, Boags modified Ali’s probation by suspending a $160 fine that another judge had levied against him.

The Code of Judicial Conduct does not specifically require a judge to disqualify himself from hearing a case in which any of the parties are known to him. However, the third canon states that a judge should remove himself when “his impartiality might reasonably be questioned� or when “he has a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party. . . .�

Boags, 58, was charged by the district attorney’s office in January, 1987, with three misdemeanors stemming from his suspension of fines on 207 parking tickets issued to his son and the young man’s high school friends, many of whom were members of the Beverly Hills High School football team. Many of the tickets involved Boags’ own car. The judge has continued on the bench pending his trial, but he has been barred from hearing criminal cases.

Two of the three charges against Boags were subsequently dismissed, but the judge still faces prosecution on what prosecutors have said is the key count--misdemeanor conspiracy to obstruct justice. A trial date has not yet been set.