Two portraits emerged Friday of Judge John Laettner, the Contra Costa County jurist facing disciplinary charges for allegedly demeaning women in his courtroom and skirting legal procedures in cases.

In closing arguments before a three-judge panel in Sacramento, Mark Lizarraga, trial counsel for the Commission on Judicial Performance, described Laettner as a judge who “lacked candor” and offered “absurd” defenses to claims he had improper ex parte conversations and made inappropriate comments about women’s physical appearances.