Carla Keehn is challenging Keri Greer Katz in 2016 election for Superior Court Judge

In 2016 federal prosecutor Carla Keehn is challenging Judge Keri Katz for a seat on the San Diego Superior Court. I've been following Keehn's career since her very interesting campaign in 2014 against Judge Lisa Schall.

This year Keehn is running against Keri Katz, who seems to be a better judge than Lisa Schall. I have no evidence that Keri Katz is anything other than a fine judge. There are websites that strongly criticize some family law judges, but Katz' name doesn't pop up on them.

I believe that Judge Keri Katz knew nothing about the deals that her father, former presiding judge of San Diego Superior Court, made with attorney Patrick Frega and Judges Dennis Adams and James Malkus in the 1990s (see more information below). Keri's father probably told her that he himself had paid for the cars and free legal representation provided by Patrick Frega.

I don't think that Keri Katz deserves to be punished for her father's wrongdoing.

But neither do I think that her family should be rewarded for her father's actions in the 1990s, and it seems that they have indeed been rewarded.

Three of Michael Greer's pals went to prison, but his daughter and son-in-law became judges:

KATZ, KERI GREER   Judge Dept. F3         Family Court
KATZ, AARON H.      Judge  Dept. J8         Juvenile Court

Is this just garden variety nepotism? 

Or is it something more? The legal establishment in San Diego seems to be mighty appreciative of the Greer family.



BACKGROUND OF THE MICHAEL GREER CASE

Keri Greer Katz is the daughter of former presiding Judge Michael Greer of San Diego Superior Court who was convicted of participating in a bribery scheme that sent two other judges to prison.

In 1997 Michael Greer provided insider testimony on fraud and racketeering charges against his pals attorney Patrick Frega and former Superior Court Judges G. Dennis Adams and James Malkus. Michael Greer did a public service by testifying against Adams, Malkus and Frega, and he was rewarded by receiving no prison sentence.

Michael Greer's daughter and son-in-law are currently judges in San Diego.

I noticed that in the indictment of Greer and his associates (filed on April 9, 1996), Greer's daughter Keri Greer is mentioned five times in the "Overt Acts" section. The most interesting mention is in paragraph 1 on page 6, which states that Patrick Frega represented Keri Greer for free in Greer v. Kildare, et al.

On Feb. 7, 1997 the LA Times reported, "...In pleading guilty, Greer admitted helping Frega win cases by providing inside information, devising legal strategies and steering the cases to "friendly" judges.

"Before his resignation in 1993 amid an investigation by the state Commission on Judicial Performance, Greer was one of the preeminent judges on the local bench and one of the few to enjoy a statewide reputation...