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Local attorney urges Sutter County to push for court recordings amid judge vacancies
Summary
Attorney Amit Sharma told the Sutter County Board that judicial vacancies are being filled by temporary judges with limited accountability and urged the board to consider non-binding resolutions or recorded facility-level proceedings to increase transparency; the chair directed staff to follow up.
During the board's public-comment period on May 13, attorney Amit Sharma told supervisors that vacancies on the civil bench have left trial administration vulnerable to inconsistency and limited oversight.
Sharma said the county is relying on temporary judges from contracting agencies and that those judges are not subject to the same accountability as elected or governor-appointed judges. He told the board he had sought recording of proceedings through court administration and that judges had refused. "Sunlight is a great disinfectant," Sharma said as he urged the board to take one of three steps: adopt a non-mandatory resolution encouraging recordings, maintain recordings as facility records subject to access rules, or consider county administration of court security to enable recordkeeping.
The chair thanked Sharma for his comments and said staff would follow up with him to explore options and coordinate with county counsel. No formal action was taken at the meeting on court policy; the exchange was recorded as public comment and the board instructed staff to engage the speaker.
