JURIST LANDS ON WRONG SIDE OF BENCH

Courts: One colleague notes the irony of Thomas J.Borris'DUI charge.

Thomas J.Borris has spent the past six years sentencing criminals to
jail,and ten more years prosecuting them as an Orange County deputy district
attorney.

Now he finds himself in an unusual role for a jurist - as a defendant on
charges of driving under the influence.

The judge, 45, was driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.22 percent
Saturday when he crashed his car into a tree in Huntington Beach, court
records show.

Because the level was so high, he could face up to nine months of mandatory
alcohol counseling if convicted, far more than the three months reserved for
routine DUIs, said Deputy District Attorney Ebrahim Baytieh.

The judge also could face sanctions by the state Commission on Judicial
Performance.

The arrest comes less than six months after the judge made national news by
sentencing Marvin Chavez to six years in prison for selling marijuana to
people who said they needed the drug for medical reasons.

Prosecutors and defense lawyers said it is unlikely that the judge's arrest
would prevent him from handling DUI cases.

"I still think he could be fair -even if this is true," said defense
attorney Robert Hartmann.

Borris, who supervises more than a dozen judges at the Westminster
courthouse, will not be replaced as supervising judge, said Alan Slater,
administrator of the Superior Court.

"He's a very professional judge and does things by the book," said Santa Ana
defense attorney Daryl Dworakowski. "This guy sentences people all the time
for this kind of thing. This is ironic. But he is innocent until proven
guilty."

Even a Huntington Beach police lieutenant whose officers arrested Borris had
nice things to say about the judge.

"Judge Borris has displayed the utmost professionalism with cases I've been
involved with," said Lt. Chuck Thomas.

Register news researcher Dick Glasow contributed to this report.