Susanne M. Rizo Admonished

Susanne M. Rizo, an Inyo County Superior Court judge, was publicly admonished by the California Commission on Judicial Performance in a 13-page decision detailing several instances of misconduct. The Commission found Rizo filed two State Bar complaints in July 2024 against the court's own executive officer and operations manager, accusing them of the unauthorized practice of law simply for questioning her directives on ICWA notice procedures and traffic-citation dismissals — complaints the State Bar dismissed weeks later, finding no evidence of wrongdoing. The Commission also found that in February 2025, Rizo signed a probable cause declaration for the arrest of a defendant, then only afterward disqualified herself from the case because the defendant's father had donated $3,000 to her 2020 judicial campaign. Separately, in a 2022 case, Rizo dismissed a traffic citation rather than research a defendant's speedy trial claim, citing a lack of resources while she was on a temporary traffic court assignment. The Commission further found Rizo failed to cooperate with court administrators and the presiding judge, alleging in her State Bar complaints that the presiding judge had "aided and abetted" the administrators, discussed open cases with court staff in a way that once resulted in a party overhearing the conversation and bursting into tears, and responded to routine scheduling communications in a volatile and disproportionate manner.