San Francisco Superior Court Judge Braden Woods, who has been accused by multiple female public defenders of making sexualized comments and creating a hostile and toxic work environment, was forced today, by the rules of the court, to accept a challenge disqualifying him from a case.
Deputy Public Defender Diamond Ward, one of Woods’ accusers,made a challenge against Woods on May 29, calling on him to recuse himself from hearing her case based on her experiences with him. Along with a number of public defenders and prosecutors, she alleges that Woods has berated and humiliated her in front of her clients.
Woods today rejected Ward’s initial challenge, as anticipated. But before an unusually full courtroom of observers, Ward made a second peremptory challenge that is typically accepted without cause and can be made only once.
“I’ve never had a positive experience with him. It’s always been hostile,” Ward said after the hearing. “Every time I’ve appeared in front of him, he often is yelling and screaming for things that he would not say to men and other women that are not of color.”
Ward said Woods — both are Black — has also made comments about the way she has dressed, telling her that she looked good.
“When you don’t accept his advances, that’s when he penalizes you,” she said today. “And I shouldn’t have to work in an environment where I’m subjected to that.”
The San Francisco Superior Court declined to comment on this matter but, after publication of this article, released a statement calling the allegations “unfounded.” Court Executive Officer Brandon E. Riley said the claims against Woods were “thoroughly scrutinized, and subsequently no action was taken against Judge Woods.”
Mission Local first reported the attorneys’ allegations against Woods, which spanned from 2018 to 2021, but were not made public until this week.
Woods was named in an official complaint to the Commission on Judicial Performance in 2021, a state agency, and was also the subject of a complaint made by two dozen public defenders to the San Francisco Superior Court presiding judges.
The commission confirmed in a 2023 letter that it had received the public defender’s complaint, but closed it, saying it “found no basis for action.” It did not say whether an investigation had been conducted but, according to the public defender’s spokesperson, Valerie Ibarra, the women named in the complaint were not contacted.
Attorneys confirmed that Woods, who served as chief deputy of the DA’s criminal division before being promoted to the bench in 2012 by Gov. Jerry Brown, was quickly and quietly moved to the Civic Center Courthouse following complaints in 2021. Since then, he has been hearing lower-level cases.
But while individual attorneys had mostly avoided appearing in his courtroom since that time, that recently began to change.
Ward hadn’t appeared in front of Woods since 2021 until she was assigned to his courtroom in recent weeks.
In that case, things didn’t go as smoothly as today: Ward said Woods stared her down angrily, and took several minutes in open court to decide whether to accept even her peremptory challenge, which all attorneys are able to make without cause.
“I felt intimidated and scared,” Ward wrote in a statement about that encounter.
Ward’s colleague Kathleen Natividad, another of Woods’ accusers, said that these challenges also impact the defendants, who end up with delayed cases and remain in custody, violating their right to a speedy trial.
“I have, like, PTSD right now,” said Natividad, who was among the crowd of supporters that gathered in the hallway after this morning’s hearing.
Ward, for her part, today appeared relieved, but did not know if she would end up assigned to Woods’ courtroom in the future. If she did, she said, she would continue to file challenges.
“I will not do a trial in front of him — or any hearing,” she said.
Calls to a phone number associated with Woods have also not been answered, though judges are typically forbidden from commenting in the media.
This article was updated with a response from the Superior Court.