Ret. San Diego judge admonished for racially charged comments on bench, absences

A recently retired San Diego Superior Court judge was publicly admonished Thursday by the Commission on Judicial Performance, the state agency that investigates judicial misconduct.

It marks the second time in 18 months the commission publicly disciplined former Judge Howard Shore. NBC 7 previously reported the state agency issued the judge a severe public censure in December 2023 for missing more than 150 days from work over a two-year period.

Shore’s lack of accountability and transparency surrounding that 2023 censure, said the commission, factored into the decision to admonish him again.  

“Former Judge Shore made express statements that constituted misrepresentations, omissions, and minimization of the factors underlying the severe public censure. These statements constituted a lack of candor,” stated a news release from the commission announcing the public admonishment.

But in an email sent to NBC 7 Investigates on Thursday night, the former judge pushed back on that categorization.

“I believe that this time they got it wrong,” Shore said. “Any conclusion that I intentionally concealed parts of the censure to mislead is incorrect.”

In addition to Shore missing 155 days of work over a two-year period, the reprimand is a response to comments the commission said could be perceived as racist Shore made while presiding over pre-trial criminal hearings. Many of those comments stem from a motion hearing covered by NBC 7 Investigates in 2022. 

Among the statements highlighted in the decision include Shore using the N-word in a hypothetical while he “argued” with a sociologist on the witness stand who specialized in race studies. The commission described Shore’s comments toward the witness as “undignified, discourteous, and offensive.”

“I categorically deny that any of those comments were, in the words of the Commission, undignified, discourteous, or offensive,” Shore responded in an email to NBC 7 Investigates Thursday evening. “After warning ‘excuse my language,’ I stated the entire ‘N-word’ in order to make my point. Yet, it is alleged that I ‘gratuitously used the N-word.’ My use of the word was anything but gratuitous.”

At the time, Shore was assigned to hear all Racial Justice Act motions in San Diego County, per a public defender filing. In an RJA motion, defendants ask a judge to drop a criminal charge if they can prove racial bias played a role in their arrest or prosecution. 

The San Diego County public defender's office accused Shore of racial bias and in January 2024 called on Shore to recuse himself from special racial justice hearings and to remove himself from all cases involving public defenders. 

“It is sad that those in charge of an office with which I have had excellent relations for most of my career found it necessary to go to such lengths in order to remove me from their cases,” said Shore via email.

“The Public Admonishment by the Commission on Judicial Performance is based on a declaration submitted to the Commission by the former Chief Public Defender and Chief Alternate Public Defender. Many of the conclusions drawn in the declaration, as well as those contained in the Admonishment, are simply wrong and, unfortunately, reflect an alarming degree of bad faith on the part of its authors. Therefore, I categorically reject this Public Admonishment as unjustified,” said Shore.

Last year, an Orange County Superior Court judge disqualified Shore from hearing several Racial Justice Act motions. Judge Cheri Pham ruled that comments Shore made could lead a person to "reasonably believe that Judge Shore believes certain racial or ethnic groups commit more crimes than others."

Shore was also reassigned to preside only over civil cases. He retired in January.

During a phone call with NBC 7 Investigates, the commission’s director-chief counsel Gregory Dresser called the public admonishment noteworthy. He said the commission generally only publicly disciplines any one of the state’s judges about five times a year. That the same judge has now been publicly disciplined twice in 18 months is highly unusual, said Dresser. 

While the public sanctions placed on Shore won’t impact his ability to preside over court business, as Shore is already retired, Dresser told NBC 7 the admonishment sends a message to other judges about what the commission considers acceptable behavior and consequences of misconduct.

In his email, Shore said his decades-long career speaks for itself.

“I served as a judge for 35 years. During that time, I maintained a reputation for integrity and devotion to the pursuit of justice of which I am proud. Throughout my career, I have had the honor of interacting with outstanding attorneys and colleagues, as well as members of the public who have served on juries in my courtroom. It is indeed unfortunate that the authors of the declaration discussed above found it necessary to launch such an offensive personal attack. So, it is reasonable to ask, who is the real Judge Shore? And I believe my 35 years of service answer that question.”

Regarding his absences from the bench, Shore said his frequent Fridays away from the courthouse stemmed from a personal issue involving a family member living in Los Angeles. Shore stated that he needed to drive up to Los Angeles to assist his family members but could not drive up on Saturdays because as an Orthodox Jew, he would not be able to drive a motor vehicle on those days, the commission wrote.

Shore missed at least 155 days total in two years, including not being present in the courthouse on any Friday between May 28, 2021, and Nov. 18, 2022, according to the commission, which stated the absences also exceeded his available vacation time by 87 days.