Saiers Fares Badly in Discovery Fight

The Third District came down hard (again) on retired San Joaquin Judge K. Peter Saiers Tuesday. This time, the panel accused him of "botching" discovery in a civil case: he apparently granted a motion to compel discovery (and awarded sanctions) even though discovery was by then closed and the moving party hadn't moved to reopen it.

We're guessing the court might have been more tactful dressing down another judge. But Saiers isn't any judge. In 2006, a three-judge panel ripped him for (apparently) referring to them as a "kangaroo court." And, apparently, they were wrong: Saiers told us he'd been referring to the DA's "strike committee," which the panel had to acknowledge when the DA rode to the judge's rescue.

Which might seem odd, given some of the run-ins Saiers has had with prosecutors.

Earlier in 2006, he outraged them by taking the unusual step of releasing a man on bail after he'd been convicted of killing his wife. Saiers' was right, though: The defendant didn't skip town, and last month, after his appeals were exhausted, he began serving his 10-year sentence.

Prosecutors were also hopping mad last year when Saiers allegedly responded, when asked to sentence two men to 14 years, "Both defendants are white; 12 years if they plead to all counts." Saiers says he doesn't think he could have said such a thing, and there apparently was no transcript.

We look forward to the Third District's take on that.

—  Greg Mitchell