Judge's Lesson Using Innocent Girl in Cuffs Swiftly Backfires

US District Judge Roger Benitez of San Diego is subject of misconduct review
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 2, 2023 4:55 PM CST
Judge's Lesson Using Innocent Girl in Cuffs Swiftly Backfires
Stock photo of a girl in handcuffs.   (Getty Images/Igor Vershinsky)

A US district court judge said he was trying to keep the 13-year-old daughter of a defendant away from drugs when he had the girl—who had committed no offense—handcuffed in his courtroom. It's a move California Judge Roger Benitez might now regret. Not only was the defendant resentenced to time served, rather than the 10-month sentence Benitez imposed for a parole violation, but Benitez—who previously made headlines for his rulings on guns—is now the subject of a review. The father's defense lawyer said the targeting of a girl who'd done nothing wrong was psychologically damaging, per KGTV. It "stunned many in the legal and juvenile justice community," per the San Diego Union Tribune. Gov. Gavin Newsom said he was sickened by the incident, per Fox News.

The father had violated parole after serving five years for drug distribution conspiracy. Before sending him back to prison for 10 months, Benitez gave him a chance to address the court. The defendant said he was in "a reoccurring cycle" that he could only escape by "leaving everybody I know," according to a transcript of the Feb. 12 hearing, per the Union Tribune. He also said his daughter was "encountering the same people," putting her on "the same path that I went down." Benitez then called the daughter to the front and asked a US marshal to "put cuffs on her." In her filing, defense attorney Mayra Lopez said the girl immediately started to cry and continued crying as Benitez sent her to the jury box.

After releasing her, Benitez asked the girl how she'd felt. "I didn't like it," she said. "Good. That was the message I was hoping to get to you," he told her. "If you're not careful, young lady, you'll wind up in cuffs, and you'll find yourself right there where I put you." He later told her to "remember this mean, old face" whenever she's "tempted to use drugs, even weed." Lopez successfully argued for resentencing by a different judge, who released her client—the "most appropriate" response to the "distressing events," Lopez said. Meanwhile, Judge Mary Murguia of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals launched a review in response to a judicial misconduct complaint. It could result in corrective action for Benitez, who says he is "not permitted to comment," per the Union Tribune. (More judicial misconduct stories.)

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