California’s Commission on Judicial Performance has initiated formal proceedings against a Sonoma County judge it says tried to use her position and that of her husband, a justice on the 6th District Court of Appeal, to avoid arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol in June.
Judge Elaine Rushing ultimately pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of driving with a blood alcohol level of .20, more than twice the legal limit, on the night of June 21. The California Highway Patrol arrested Rushing after she drove into a ditch on the side of a Santa Rosa road and damaged a stone wall.
