A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge who was overseeing a murder trial has been disciplined for sending a text message to a former colleague in the district attorney’s office questioning the prosecutor’s trial strategy.
The text messages resulted in the public censure of Judge Emily J. Cole, which is the most severe penalty the Judicial Commission can impose on a judge, other than removal from the court. Cole served as a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles County for 13 years until she was elected to the bench in 2020 and began her first term next year.
The Judicial Performance Commission reviewed Cole’s conduct, which stemmed from a court hearing during a murder trial on April 28, 2023, according to a report. The commission’s report was published on 28 May,
“Judge Cole’s misconduct is serious and has undermined the integrity and dignity of the judiciary,” commission chairman Michael Moodian said in the report. “Judge Cole’s text messages to his former colleague during a murder trial were contrary to his role as a judge. He attempted to place his thumb on the scales of justice, crossed the line from an impartial judicial officer to an advocate, and displayed neither neutrality nor intelligence.”
Cole presided over the murder trial of Travis Rockhill. According to the commission’s report, this was the second trial on the same charge because during the first trial Rockhill had allegedly made incriminating comments to the court bailiff, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Randy Smalls.
During the second trial, Smalls was held in a separate courtroom but was made available as a witness for either the prosecution or Rockhill’s defense.
During the April 28 hearing, Rockhill testified in his own defense. After the jury was dismissed for the day, Cole spoke with attorneys, who said off the record that they did not plan to call any additional witnesses.
Deputy District Attorney Yujin Yi was prosecuting the case and Peter Garner from the Alternate Public Defender’s Office represented Rockhill. While the parties said they did not plan to call any additional witnesses, the evidentiary portion of the trial was continuing. According to the commission’s report, Yi had not finished the prosecution’s rebuttal phase.
According to the commission, proceedings before Cole that day ended at 3:53 p.m., and less than a minute later the judge texted his former colleague, Deputy District Attorney Kevin Sexton, who had watched Rockhill’s testimony from inside the courtroom earlier that day.
Cole wrote, “She’s not calling Smalls after that??? Why?”
Sexton replied, “No clue.”
Cole wrote in response, “Maybe people should talk to him about it?”
The commission concluded that Cole indicated that Yee should have called Smalls to testify and that someone in the DA’s office should have passed that message on to Yee. Ultimately, Yee did not call Smalls to testify during the rebuttal phase, the commission’s report said.
After both sides withdrew their cases, the jury deliberated for about six days and returned a guilty verdict against Rockhill, according to the commission’s report. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, according to court records.
After the verdict was announced, Sexton informed Yee about Cole’s text messages. The next day, the DA’s office notified Rockhill’s defense attorney and supervising judge Denise McLaughlin-Bennett at the alternate public defender’s office.
According to the commission’s report, McLaughlin-Bennett contacted Cole about the text messages on May 12, 2023, and asked him to “disclose the communications on the record and recuse himself (from the case) by the first day he is due back in court on May 15, 2023.”
Cole revealed text messages sent to attorneys for both sides during a court hearing. He indicated the messages were sent “after both sides had relaxed, hours later,” according to court records. He said the messages were “inexcusable.”
McLaughlin-Bennett criticized Cole’s presentation of the situation and instructed him to “represent what happened objectively, in chronological order, without attempting to downplay, explain, or distort the facts.”
The commission said lawyers in the case did not lay their arguments until Cole sent text messages and messaged Sexton during work hours. Cole revised her statement in the court record on May 26, 2023, to clarify that “both sides have laid out their main case” but this was also misleading, according to the commission’s findings, because it appeared Cole was trying to minimize her actions and the timing was incorrect.
The commission found that his “false and misleading statements” in the court order and letter to the commission violated several principles of the California Code of Judicial Conduct.
The commission also noted that this was Cole’s first disciplinary case and that she undertook to disclose the messages to all relevant parties and accepted responsibility in person before a supervising judge and in writing to the commission. Cole also admitted that her initial attempts to disclose the text messages were wrong, and she agreed to the commission’s stipulation on the matter. The nine members of the commission approved the stipulation for discipline on May 15 of this year.
Cole’s attorney, Paul Meyer, said in a statement that he “deeply regrets his inappropriate communication and has learned from it. He has earned a reputation as an impartial jurist and is embarrassed by this momentary lapse. He immediately took responsibility and insists it will not happen again.”
Cole’s term as judge will expire in January 2027.
