A federal judge in San Diego, California, was recently disciplined by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for having allowed his 13-year-old daughter to wear handcuffs during a sentencing hearing. The Judicial Council of the 9th Circuit in its disciplinary decision regarding Judge Roger Benitez stated that ordering the girl to wear handcuffs during a hearing in February last year constituted “an abuse of power or harassing behavior.”
As part of the judgment, Benitez will not be assigned new criminal cases for the next three years, and lawyers can request his recusal from certain hearings. Benitez explained that his intention was to prevent the girl from going down the path of drug abuse.
The girl’s father, who was the defendant, has a history of drug use. During the sentencing hearing, the defendant told Judge Benitez that his daughter had smoked marijuana, and he was worried she would “go down the same road I am on now.”
Benitez then had the girl put on handcuffs by the bailiff and asked her, “Do you see your dad over there?” He later asked, “How does it feel to have the handcuffs on?”
Witnesses said the girl cried throughout the hearing and after leaving the courtroom.
The Judicial Council stated that Benitez, in response to a complaint letter about the incident, said he did it in hopes of changing the girl’s potential (drug) behavior and also the defendant’s behavior. Benitez also said that no one in the courtroom objected to his order at the time. However, he expressed willingness to apologize to the girl if he could explain again why he did it.
The Judicial Council wrote that Benitez’s actions had two aspects that were “unacceptable.” “First, placing handcuffs on an observer who was not involved in threatening or disruptive behavior during the hearing exceeded the judge’s authority. Second, his stunning move in the courtroom caused friends, family, and the public who came to support the defendant to stop in their tracks.”
The Judicial Council also stated that despite Benitez “insisting that his actions were borne out of the best intentions,” his conduct harmed the girl and “affected trust in the judiciary.”
Benitez was nominated by President George W. Bush in 2003 as a federal judge in the Southern District of California, and the appointment was approved by the United States Senate in 2004.
One of Benitez’s notable and controversial rulings was in 2021 when he ruled that a law banning all assault weapons in California violated the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution.