The Federal Judge Who Put an Innocent Child in Handcuffs Has Been Disciplined, Sort Of

Howard recently posted about the sanctions imposed on Judge Roger Benitez for placing a defendant's 13-year-old daughter in handcuffs, purportedly to teach her a lesson about drugs. He and I had an earlier exchange about whether Benitez would face meaningful consequences. Well, the Ninth Circuit Judicial Council has now issued a disciplinary order, leading Howard to explain that he will "leave it to those who study judicial ethics to opine on whether any of this constitutes 'real consequences.'"

I now have a new column in Slate about Benitez, who has finally been disciplined, sort of.

Here is the gist (I did not write the headline):

A Judge Had a 13-Year-Old Girl Handcuffed for No Reason. A Year Later, He’s Faced Basically No Consequences.

[Benitez] implausibly denied that he had done anything to “demean or shame” Puente’s daughter, as though standing in a crowded courtroom, weeping and handcuffed, while receiving a lecture on drug use, was something an innocent child could be expected to endure without humiliation.

“Trying to help a 13-year-old girl,” Benitez maintained, “can’t be judicial misconduct.”

While the [judicial council's] condemnation of Benitez’s conduct was unequivocal, the consequence did not match the offense.

In a typical criminal case, for example, a defendant’s lack of remorse would call for a significant sentencing enhancement, and Benitez showed no contrition.

Nonetheless, the judicial council issued only a public reprimand and prohibited Benitez from presiding over new criminal cases for three years.

A more fitting penalty also available under the law, although unmentioned in the judicial council decision, would have been to suspend Benitez from presiding over any cases at all “for a time certain.”

Perhaps 10 months completely away from the bench—the same length of time to which he sentenced Mario Puente—might bring about some serious and much-needed reflection.

You can read the entire essay on Slate.