A Sacramento, Calif., judge accused of becoming embroiled in a 2006 divorce case received a “severe” public censure from California’s Commission on Judicial Performance on Tuesday.

Commissioners said Superior Court Judge Peter McBrien violated a litigant’s right to due process when he dramatically ended the trial of Mona Lea Carlsson and Ulf Johan Carlsson — cutting off a witness mid-testimony — at the end of two days of proceedings.