Roger Benitez Federal Reprimanded

During a February 2023 hearing, U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez called up the 13-year-old daughter of a defendant, who was attending one of her father's hearings for the first time. Benitez ordered a U.S. Marshal to handcuff the crying girl and had her sit in the jury box — an attempt, by his own account, to teach her a lesson about drugs.

The Ninth Circuit Judicial Council investigated and found the shackling "exceeds the authority of a district judge" when used against a spectator who wasn't engaged in any threatening or disorderly conduct. The Council's own language was unequivocal that Benitez had no legal basis for what he did.

The judicial council issued Benitez a public reprimand and barred his court from assigning him any new criminal cases for three years, while letting another judge decide whether to remove existing criminal cases from his docket. Benitez rejected the finding that his conduct was "ill-advised" and "damaging to the public's trust in the judiciary," instead blaming the defendant's own attorneys for the episode.

A federal judge with life tenure has enormous latitude in his own courtroom — but that authority doesn't extend to ordering a crying child in handcuffs as a personal teaching moment. The Ninth Circuit's own judicial council said so unequivocally, and Benitez still wouldn't accept responsibility for it.