COMMISSION PROBES LA JUDGE'S PRESCRIPTION DRUG USE

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A Los Angeles judge was being investigated for using
prescription drugs that may have affected her job, the state Commission on
Judicial Performance says.

Municipal Court Judge Pamela Rogers of Lancaster used a series of
medications for about a year to combat migraine headaches after childbirth,
said her lawyer, Ephraim Margolin. He said she eventually found a drug that
worked and is no longer having problems.

Margolin said the commission's notice Monday of proceedings against Rogers
includes possible charges of being unable to perform her duties at times,
excessive absences, speaking curtly to people in her courtroom and taking
longer than 90 days to decide some of her cases.

State law prohibits judges from collecting their salaries if they take more
than 90 days to rule on cases after submission.

Rogers, 44, a former prosecutor, was elected to the court in 1994.

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