hopping down 80-year-old trees from a protected nature preserve can get a judge charged with felony vandalism, but according to the Commission on Judicial Performance, it doesn't warrant removal from the bench.
On Thursday, the commission publicly admonished Sacramento Superior Court Judge Peter McBrien, who was placed on misdemeanor probation in October 2000 after pleading no contest to hacking down eight oaks from the bank of the American River in order to improve the view from his home.
The commission said McBrien's conduct showed "disregard of the principles of personal and official conduct embodied in the California Code of Judicial Ethics."
That included failure to observe high standards of conduct, failure to respect and comply with the law and to act in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity of the judiciary.
Neither McBrien, nor his attorney Edward George Jr., returned calls for comment Thursday, but in a letter to the commission McBrien wrote: "I sincerely regret my misdemeanor violation of the law, primarily because it brings dishonor and disrespect to the bench."
Although McBrien was charged with cutting down eight trees from a county-owned preserve bordering his former home, park officials said the judge felled as many as 16 trees, but the statute of limitations had run on the first eight.
McBrien's plea deal allowed the family law judge to avoid a one-year jail sentence on a felony charge. Instead, he was placed on probation until he could reimburse the Effie Yeaw Nature Center -- which owned the trees -- the sum of $20,000.
At the hearing, McBrien's lawyer promptly produced a check for the total amount, ending McBrien's probation roughly 10 seconds after it began.
By that time McBrien, who was never arrested or jailed for the offense, had already left through the back door of the courtroom, raising questions of favoritism from the Sacramento-area press.
The misdemeanor plea not only kept McBrien out of jail, but may also have saved his career. At the time, First District Court of Appeal Justice Daniel "Mike" Hanlon, then the chair of the CJP, said that, generally, he couldn't see a felony not leading to removal from the bench.
Although the judge paid restitution, a local real estate agent familiar with the property told the Sacramento News and Review in August that by cutting down the 50-foot-tall trees, McBrien may have increased his property value by as much as $100,000.
