Sloppy on the bench. Sloppy in the Court

I can't imagine filing anything, much less an appeal, without reading it a few times.

Solo's Errant Spell-Check Causes 'Sea Sponge' Invasion

In an opening brief to San Francisco's 1st District Court of Appeal, a search-and-replace command by Santa Cruz solo practitioner Arthur Dudley inexplicably inserted the words "sea sponge" instead of the legal term "sua sponte," which is Latin for "on its own motion."

That left the justices reading -- and probably laughing at -- such classic statements as: "An appropriate instruction limiting the judge's criminal liability in such a prosecution must be given sea sponge explaining that certain acts or omissions by themselves are not sufficient to support a conviction."

And: "It is well settled that a trial court must instruct sea sponge on any defense, including a mistake of fact defense."

The sneaky "sea sponge" popped up at least five times.

Dudley said he didn't notice the mistake in People v. Danser, A107853, until his client -- William Danser, a former Santa Clara County Superior Court judge seeking reversal of his conviction for fixing traffic tickets -- called for an explanation.

Dudley corrected the error in his reply brief, telling the court that a "glitch" caused the weird wording and instructing that "where the phrase 'sea sponge' is found, this court should insert the phrase 'sua sponte.'"

But who is Willaim Dansler?

Dansler was a Superior Court Judge of California's Santa Clara County who was convicted in 2004 of one count of felony conspiracy to obstruct justice, plus eight misdemeanor counts of obstruction, attempted obstruction and conflict of interest.

Danser was accused along with a friend, former Los Gatos police Detective Randy Bishop, of fixing cases for members and associates of the San Jose Sharks hockey and San Jose Earthquakes soccer teams. They did similar favors for "friends of friends," authorities said.

Prosecutors said Bishop, who was moonlighting as a security official for Sharks and Earthquakes, steered 20 people who had two dozen traffic tickets and two DUIs to Danser. They included Sharks players and executives — among them goalie Evgeni Nabokov and team president Greg Jamison — and an Earthquakes player, a team trainer and an equipment manager along with players' girlfriends and wives.

Others were a personal trainer for Danser and his sons, a former private school teacher for the judge's children, and members of the Los Gatos Little League, for which Danser served as president.

Danser dismissed the cases "in the interest of justice" without the traffic violators or their attorneys appearing in court and with no notification to the law enforcement officials who issued the citation or to prosecutors, authorities said. San Francisco Chronicle

Danser was sentenced to 90 days of house arrest with electronic monitoring and three years' probation. Last month, the Court of Appeals rejected his "sea sponge" appeal:

Justice Patricia Sepulveda wrote that "ample evidence supported the charge" that Danser "became involved in the cases in order to grant special treatment."

The "judge" is now appealing to the Supreme Court.