Judge in Brame suit was investigated for alleged abuse 1992: State looked into matter, did not charge ArmijoThe News Tribune
Karen Hucks
February 6, 2004
[Excerpts] The judge hearing the Crystal Brame lawsuit was investigated in 1992 for allegedly hitting his teenage daughter because she didn't want to let him put a cream above her lip to remove facial hair. Pierce County Superior Court Judge Sergio Armijo was never charged with a crime, but Child Protective Services looked into the matter. Its report surfaced this week, raising questions of whether Armijo had any conflict of interest in hearing the lawsuit, which includes allegations of domestic violence... According to the CPS report, written May 5, 1992, Armijo's 14-year-old daughter said that the night before, her father had wanted to take facial hair off her upper lip, and she didn't want him to do it. He made her lie on the bed so he could apply the cream. When she wiggled, he got angry, pulled her hair and hit her on the leg with a belt, the report says. The girl's mother had intervened, telling Armijo he was abusive, and he went outside to cool down, the report says. Investigators said the girl had two bruises consistent with her account. The report also said the girl reported that normal discipline in the household was corporal punishment. She said her father had "beaten up" her brother once; the boy told investigators that was true, but that it had happened only once, three years earlier. Pierce County prosecutors reviewed the CPS report and decided not to file felony charges against Armijo, then an appointed Tacoma Municipal Court judge running for election. The report was passed to Tacoma city misdemeanor attorneys, who forwarded it to Thurston County attorneys. They decided not to file charges. Kathy Spears, a spokeswoman for the Department of Social and Health Services, declined to comment... The family of Tacoma Police Chief David Brame's wife has sued the city, accusing officials of giving him too much power, ignoring allegations of domestic violence and not noticing his emotional disintegration. Brame fatally shot his wife and himself April 26. Five other judges had declined to hear the case. Judicial canons tell judges to disqualify themselves from proceedings if their impartiality might reasonably be questioned. Attorneys not involved in the case said they'd want to know if a judge presiding over a domestic violence case had been accused of hurting a family member. "I guess for me, it's not automatic disqualification, but I would want to know more," said deputy prosecutor Cort O'Connor, who runs Pierce County's misdemeanor domestic violence unit... [Full article here]
Judge Armijo gave custody to my sons father that sexually and physically abused my son. My son was forensically interviewed. In the interview my son disclosed that his father hits him with a rope and a door, puches him and swackes him. My son also states in the interview thta his father touched him under his clothes on the privates after tricking him to come out to go to the pool. Judge Armijo asked my sons father,"are you aware that your roomate has ben charged with child molestation?" Mary Bridge Hospital states that the bruises on my sons leg were consistent with two knuckles caused by a punch. Judge Armijo still gave him custody.
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