Judicial Council Disregards Whistleblower Leaked Report Documenting Serial Ethics Violations by Contra Costa County Judge Bruce C. Mills

Judge Bruce C. Mills

A report cataloging serial acts of misconduct spanning more than 10 years by Judge Bruce C. Mills has been leaked to the public by a court watchdog and whistleblower group.

The 51-page dossier collected both public and "secret" discipline prosecutions against the judge by the Commission on Judicial Performance, the state agency responsible for judge oversight and accountability. The report is embedded at the end of this post.

The report reveals that in addition to two well known public disciplinary actions taken against the veteran Contra Costa County jurist, Mills was also found guilty in three additional incidents where the type of discipline and name of the offender were "private" and not revealed to the public.

The group identified Mills as the offending judge in the secret proceedings by reverse engineering details from the public disciplinary actions and cross referencing the information with old CJP annual reports. The acts of public and private misconduct occurred in 2001, 2006, 2008, 2011 and 2013. 

Judge Bruce Clayton Mills was appointed to the bench by Governor Pete Wilson in July, 1995. Mills worked as a Contra Costa County prosecutor from 1985-95, and was in private practice from 1984-87. The judge is a 1984 graduate of Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon.