Panel Removes Judge for Misconduct

STOCKTON--A state panel has found that a San Joaquin County judge fixed parking tickets for friends and tried to influence a fellow jurist.

This week the Commission on Judicial Performance ordered Judge Michael Platt, 53, removed from the bench.

The commission found that Platt dismissed the tickets--for a bailiff’s son, Minnesota Twins pitcher Eddie Guardado, his wife and his niece--which involved matters not being argued before him.

The panel also said that Platt tried to get another judge to grant a conditional release to a friend, then lied about it.

Platt’s attorney, Albert Ellis, said that he did not agree with the findings and that Platt plans to ask the state Supreme Court to review his case. The commission cleared Platt of charges of improper issue of a stay, influencing a judge in a family court hearing and trying to dismiss a ticket for his godfather.