Civil Procedure
Apr. 17, 2026
Former prosecutor judge disqualified from RJA murder case
Court of Appeal removes Riverside judge from death penalty case, finding her prior prosecutorial role could create doubts about impartiality in evaluating Racial Justice Act claims of systemic charging bias.
An appellate panel granted a Riverside County District Attorney's Office writ of mandate petition to disqualify a judge, a former prosecutor, from presiding over a death penalty case involving claims under California's Racial Justice Act.
The panel emphasized that its decision was not based on any finding of actual bias by Judge Samah Shouka, but rather on the appearance of potential partiality stemming from her employment from 2015 to 2018, during which she participated i...
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