April 22—As of this month, more than 200 motions — filed on behalf of defendants charged with misdemeanors — have been filed to remove cases originally assigned to Municipal Court Judge Gloria Ochoa-Bruck.
The reason was not disclosed.
After six months, Ochoa-Bruck denied several motions to have her cases sent to another judge on April 8.
The motions disrupted the Municipal Court schedule and delayed cases.
In response, the judge asked public defenders to keep their clients informed and that clients must also approve, with their signatures, any motion to appoint another judge.
The ruling prompted Public Defender Nicholas Antush, who heads the city’s public defender’s office, to appeal the case to Spokane County Superior Court.
Contacted this week, Antush declined to comment on why his office is actively trying to remove cases from Ochoa-Bruck’s docket. Lawyers do not have to reveal why they believe their clients cannot receive a fair trial before a judge when they file an affidavit of prejudice.
The lack of a specific reason for the general requests from the public defender’s office left Ochoa-Bruck frustrated.
“This is unprecedented, to my knowledge,” she said. “I feel targeted.”
Ochoa-Bruck unseated former Municipal Court Judge Matt Antush in 2021. Matt Antush is the brother of Nicholas Antush.
Municipal Court Presiding Judge Kristin O’Sullivan declined to comment because the case is ongoing. Mayor Lisa Brown, who oversees the public defender’s office, also declined to comment.
City Attorney Mike Piccolo said the City Attorney’s Office has not moved to disqualify a judge, and has had no reason to do so, at least in the past decade .
Judges have an ethical obligation to recuse themselves in all cases where they have, or are perceived to have, a potential conflict of interest. Parties to a case can also file a motion to disqualify if they believe they cannot get a fair trial before a specific judge.
These disqualification motions are rare.
It is even rarer for a blanket motion to be filed in all cases presided over by a specific judge.
Spokane County District Court Judge Aimee Maurer, in a statement, questioned how such blanket disqualifications were used.
While refusing to talk about the Ochoa-Bruck issue, Maurer has been involved in other related efforts. She is part of a new anti-racism trial court task force that was formed after the Washington State Supreme Court ordered judges in 2020 to “identify and eliminate racism and discrimination” in the criminal justice system.
As for motions to recuse a judge, Maurer questioned how affidavits of prejudice are used.
“For example, if you have no objective evidence, such as a history of a judge being appealed and overturned, or reprimanded or sanctioned, by the Commission on Judicial Conduct, then what is left is just perception “subjective aspect of a judge’s competence,” Maurer wrote. “We know that subjective perceptions can be tainted by racism, explicit or…
