Superior Court of California County of Santa Clara 191 North Fite Steet Chamberof WON DEBORAH A. RYAN, Assent Presiding hee September 29, 2017 5: a arr Re: Request to Transfer Case 2 ii” bs Your request to have your ease transferred away from Judge James Towery was forwarded to me in my role of Assistant Presiding Judge responsible for gand responding to complains of misconduct by our judicial officers. I understand you have independently filed a complaint with the Commission on Judicial Performance and that you have stated in this case that you are not asking that your request be regarded as a complaint, but simply as a request to have the matter transferred to a different judge However, the court cannot consider your request unless there is found to be a basis for it, ie, misconduct of the involved judicial officer. Accordingly, I am treating this request as a complaint and am responding accordingly Please be advised that I have no authority to overrule or to change a judicial decision made by another judicial officer, nor may I attempt to affect the outcome in a particular case pending before another judicial officer. Also, you must independently investigate any appeal or other remedies that you may have. Thave now had the opportunity to review the file in this case and have investigated your concems. I find the essence of your concerns is that you are not satisfied with Judge Towery’s rulings in your case and feel that he has a conflict of interest and has retaliated against you. My review of your case does not support any such findings. One of your complaints is that Judge Towery unlawfully altered the record in your matter by excluding a police report. In fact, from the documents you have submitted in support of this complaint, it is clear that the police report you reference was actually a CD-ROM from the Santa Clara County SherifP’s Office relating to a domestic violence incident that was part of the basis for a Restraining Order that was issued against you in 2014. You have noted in your correspondence that you agreed to this Restraining Order at the time, Ms. Zamora, then Judge Towery’s clerk, wrote the parties a letter on January 25, 2016 advising that while changing case management systems and scanning documents into the new system a CD-ROM was discovered. Apparently, it arrived ata September 29, 2017 Page 2 court after the Restraining Order had been heard and an order issued, Ms. Zamora advised that it was the court’s intention to mail the CD-ROM back to the Sheriff's Office because the case was closed and the CD-ROM had not been considered as part of the evidence in the case having arrived at court after the court had made its ruling, This situation does not constitute an altering of the court record After a thorough review of your matter, I find no evidence that supports the allegations of your complaint. Further, I do not find that Judge Towery has committed any ethical misconduct or that a conflict of interest exists or that he has retaliated against you. According no further action will be taken in this matter. Please be advised that the court does not generally respond to email complaints. 1 understand that you have advised Mr. Walker, our Executive Secretary, that you do not have a current physical address to which correspondence can be sent. While I am making an exception in this instance and responding to your email complaint, this is not a situation that is likely to be repeated. Sincerely, Aoiuredt Ge St. ) Deborah A. Ryan Assistant Presiding Judge Santa Clara County Superior Court