Lawyer Admits Judge Bradley Violated His Probation

SANTA BARBARA â€”  A lawyer for Superior Court Judge Robert C. Bradley admitted in court Thursday that the embattled jurist violated his probation when he got drunk last month.

But he entered a not-guilty plea to five new counts of violating a protective order forbidding Bradley from contacting his estranged wife.

Bradley--who has already been suspended from the bench after two drunk-driving arrests this winter--got in trouble again April 25 when he began drinking and took a $55 cab ride to the Ojai home where he once lived with his wife, Dorothea, and their children.

Bradley was arrested twice that day: first early in the morning after climbing through a window into the family’s home, on charges of violating his probation, and again that evening, for phone calls he allegedly made to his wife after posting bail. The calls violated a restraining order she had obtained against him, according to the charges.

Court experts have said Bradley’s two most recent arrests will probably end his judicial career and his ability to practice law. Bradley himself has acknowledged that his career as a judge is probably over.

After four days in custody, Bradley was released April 28 from Ventura County Jail on $100,000 bond.

Bradley, 57, who did not appear in court with his attorney, Sam Eaton, to enter a plea Thursday, is scheduled to be sentenced on the probation violation June 26.

Santa Barbara Municipal Judge Denise de Bellefeuille ordered a pre-sentencing report by that date.

“This is not something we usually ask for in a misdemeanor case,� she said. “But this is an extraordinary case.�

For the charges of violating a protective order--to which Eaton entered a not-guilty plea on Bradley’s behalf--a hearing will be held Aug. 4.

De Bellefeuille then ordered that Bradley not “disturb the peace� of his wife from now until his sentencing.