Gregory Kreis Censured Removed

Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Gregory Kreis admitted to a pattern of misconduct spanning years. At a lake party, Kreis threw a deputy public defender off a boat while calling him "Jewboy" — an antisemitic slur. He also admitted that in at least 44 separate cases he presided over, he failed to disclose his personal relationships with seven attorneys who appeared before him, and that in 2018, after a night of drinking with friends, he slapped a woman's buttocks despite her firmly telling him not to. California's Commission on Judicial Performance charged Kreis with 19 ethical violations dating back to 2015; he admitted to 17 of them — after his re-election campaign was defeated at the polls — and agreed to a public censure, resignation, and a permanent, lifetime bar from ever holding judicial office again.