OC Political

This is a guest editorial from Lowell Joint School District Trustee BillHinz on one of the judicial races. Mr.Hinz earned a Juris Doctorate from Western State University and is the owner of a private law firm in Brea.

Helen Hayden for Orange County Superior Court Judge

Helen Hayden is running for Judge.  Ms. Hayden was born in Philly and raised in South Jersey.  She graduated from Boston College and later attended Suffolk University Law School.  While in law school Ms. Hayden worked in a local district attorney’s office and subsequently graduated from law school with honors.  In 1989 she moved to California dealing primarily with civil litigation.

Ms. Hayden is trying to unseat Judge Derek Johnson (a Gray Davis appointee).  Although Judge Johnson has been endorsed by a long list of other judges and lawyers (customary for a sitting judge) it should be noted that Judge Johnson was publicly admonished by the State Of California Commission On Judicial Performance relative to comments that he made on the record about a rape victim, opining his view that  “I’m not a gynecologist, but I can tell you something: If someone doesn’t want to have sexual intercourse the body shuts down.  The body will not permit that to happen unless a lot of damage is inflicted and we heard nothing about that in this case.  That tells me that the victim in this case although she wasn’t necessarily willing, she didn’t put up a fight…I found this whole case to be a technical case.  The rape is technical.  The forced oral copulation is technical.  It’s more of a crime law test than a real live criminal case.”

I met both Helen Hayden and Judge Johnson at a recent meeting of the North Orange County Bar Association.  I was impressed by the demeanor of Helen Hayden.  Judge Johnson, not so much, he refused to shake hands with his opponent.  Helen Hayden has been endorsed by the Orange County Register and deserves  your support as well.