Judge Danser's Trial is Almost Wrapped Up

The prosecution and defense rested Tuesday afternoon after indicted Judge William Danser spent more than a day on the stand defending his decisions to dismiss more than 20 traffic tickets for athletes and friends. In a cross-examination that started Monday and ended Tuesday, Santa Clara County prosecutor David Pandori at times chastised the judge. If convicted of felony conspiracy and misdemeanor obstruction of justice, Danser faces up to three years in prison.

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SAN JOSE — The prosecution and defense rested Tuesday afternoon after indicted Judge William Danser spent more than a day on the stand defending his decisions to dismiss more than 20 traffic tickets for professional athletes and friends.

In a cross-examination that started Monday and ended Tuesday, Santa Clara County prosecutor David Pandori at times chastised the judge.

At one point, Danser seemed taken aback by the deputy district attorney’s characterization of Los Gatos as a “little” town.

“I guess when you’re king of Los Gatos, you probably think that it’s a big place,” Pandori scoffed.

In a surprising move, however, Pandori chose not to call Danser’s alleged co-conspirator to testify. Danser had testified that former Los Gatos Police Det. Randall Bishop duped the judge into dismissing many of the tickets. Bishop pleaded no contest to felony conspiracy and misdemeanor obstruction of justice before trial. He had been subpoenaed, but jurors weren’t told of the plea.

Pandori methodically walked Danser through each ticket the judge dismissed, as well as the two drunken driving cases that he transferred to his courtroom for sentencing, asking the judge to explain his ex parte communications and his reasons for dismissals.

Danser repeatedly explained that he dismissed tickets for friends and professional athletes only after Bishop assured him that the issuing police agency did not object. But police officers who testified earlier in the trial said they did not give that permission. Sometimes Bishop would bring Danser tickets to dismiss for San Jose Sharks players and staff.

Danser testified that at other times, he decided to ask Bishop to call police agencies and get permission for tickets that he had heard friends or acquaintances griping about.

Danser acknowledged that he was not assigned to hear traffic court matters and that he never spoke to, or received anything in writing from, the officers who issued the tickets. Danser said he didn’t hold a hearing in open court before dismissing the tickets and he often didn’t even require Bishop or his friends to provide a reason why the tickets should be dismissed.

That’s what happened when Bishop, who was moonlighting as a securities officer for the Sharks, asked Danser to take care of tickets issued to Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov for speeding and unsafe passing.

“Was your relationship with Randy Bishop the factor why you got involved in this case?” Pandori asked.

“Yeah, I worked with Randy. It was a work-related issue. He brought it to my attention,” explained Danser, who used to sign search warrants for the Los Gatos cop. “The only information is the information I received from Randy.”

Danser said he knew Bishop palled around with Sharks players and accompanied them on a few road trips. But Danser testified he never knew Bishop worked for the Sharks team.

When asked why he agreed to dismiss the tickets, Danser explained that according to Bishop, “The officer, the agency had no objection for me dismissing the ticket in the interest of justice,” Danser said.

Pandori asked again.

“That’s the only reason [Bishop] gave me,” Danser said.

“Did you think this ticket was issued erroneously?” Pandori asked.

“I didn’t think about it one way or the other,” Danser responded.

If convicted of felony conspiracy and misdemeanor obstruction of justice, Danser faces up to three years in prison.

Danser’s defense attorney, Kenneth Robinson of San Jose, called just one witness aside from Danser. Deputy DA John Schon was called to testify that in his experience, Danser always gave no-jail sentences to first-time DUI defendants, even though most judges sentence them to six days of weekend work.

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