Kenneth Kloepfer, infamously celebrated as the Rancho Cucamonga Justice Center’s ill-tempered judge, has died at the age of 82.
Kloepfer last practiced law in 1997, eight years after he was removed from the bench.
Kenneth Lynn Kloepfer was born on October 13, 1942 in Sacramento, California, the second son of Lynn William and Marguerite nee Fonnesbeck Kloepfer. At that time, his father, who had an illustrious career as an attorney which included work for the United States Department of Agriculture in its field offices and as its solicitor, was the chief attorney for the Sacramento Abstract and Title Company in the state’s capital.
In 1947, Lynn and Marguerite Kloepfer relocated their family to Ontario where he opened up a general law practice. Ken Kloepfer began kindergarten in Ontario later that year. In 1952, when he was in the fifth grade, his father became Ontario City Attorney, a post Lynn Kloepfer held until 1975. In this way, during his formative years, Ken Kloepfer was given a close window on the legal profession and the use of both administrative and municipal authority.
Ken Kloepfer graduated from Chaffey High School in 1960. After graduating from USC with a Bachelor of Arts degree in international relations, obtaining a Juris Doctor degree from USC Law School in 1968 and passing the bar on his first attempt in 1969, he had a private practice in what was then the unincorporated community of Cucamonga, often handling cases at the old Cucamonga Courthouse.
His brother, Robert Kloepfer, later became an attorney.
Ken Kloepfer successfully ran for a San Bernardino County Municipal Court judgeship in 1980 and was sworn into that position on January 5, 1981.
Though he was worldly, knowledgeable, clever, personable and possessed a sense of humor, upon taking up the authority of judge, Kloepfer grew somewhat imperious and, on occasion, perturbable, particularly when those in his courtroom were, or he deemed them to be, disrespectful, unprepared or unobservant of decorum or protocol. Some felt he manifested a superiority complex which he had cultivated while at USC.
He routinely applied contempt of court citations against those who displeased him, doing so in what was described as “equal opportunity” fashion – against criminal defendants and litigants, those who were appearing on relatively minor matters such as traffic citations, defense attorneys, plaintiff’s attorneys and prosecutors, those without much court experience and some seasoned lawyers who had spent decades as members of the bar.
After years of complaints were racked up against him, the Commission on Judicial Performance in April of 1985 detailed investigators to begin an inquiry into his comportment and in December of 1986 served him with a formal complaint that delineated what it said were 47 instances of misconduct involving abusing his power of contempt, repeatedly insulting lawyers, litigants and court aides, and failing to uphold the rights of criminal defendants. Kloepfer had engaged in a litany of unjustifiably angry outbursts while exhibiting “a persistent pattern of abuse and arbitrary conduct” from his vaunted position on the bench, the Commission on Judicial Performance alleged.
Those included:
* Telling Deputy District Attorney Robert Guzzino at the conclusion of a preliminary hearing in People v. Garza, et al, in February, 1982, “You guineas can’t get anything right.”
* In July, 1982, stating to Deputy District Attorney Tracy Bartell in open court that she was an embarrassment to the People of the State of California, and it was frightening to think she represented their interests.
* Castigating a court reporter in February 1983 for speaking without his permission when she asked a defendant, who was entering a guilty plea, to make his responses to the judge audible.
* Rebuking a female criminal defendant during a pretrial in early 1984 when he attempted to assist him in the pronunciation of her name.
* In open court during preparation for People v. Leona Barnes, on February 14, 1984 stating to attorney Joanne Nehmeh that she was not psychologically capable of putting on a trial.
* During trial in the case of People v. Dane Husted in May of 1984 interrupting the testimony of defense witness Barbara Cooke, telling her not to say anything and the “[f]irst rule is you keep your mouth closed.”
* Denying defendant Kenneth Clark on February 21, 1985 the right to speak when he appeared for a misdemeanor pretrial conference without his lawyer.
* Issuing a $5,000 warrant against defendant Judith Pearson on February 22, 1985 when her attorney appeared in court to be heard on a suppression motion relating to evidence to be presented against her with regard to a misdemeanor offense.
* Issuing a bench warrant and forfeited Roger Park’s bail on September 16, 1985 after Park appeared in his court without his attorney, J. Brendan O’Neill, because O’Neill was that morning tied up in federal court on another case. After it was explained to Judge Kloepfer that Park was present in his courtroom, he still remanded the defendant to custody until the bail bond was reassumed.
* Holding defendant Joseph Shepherd in contempt and putting him in jail for two days in August 1984 after Shepherd, in response to being told he could not address the court, asked why.
* Holding a woman, Lynn Cotterman, who was in his courtroom on January 8, 1985, in contempt, placing her in custody for two hours after she tripped while she was leaving the courtroom, hitting hit her knee on a bench and uttering a one-word expletive.
* Threatening defendant William Saxe with contempt in October 1985 for whispering to his attorney during a hearing.
* Telephoning the law office of Attorney Paul Abram on the afternoon of November 25, 1985 after Abram had filed a writ of mandate on behalf of this client, Linda Steed, seeking a review of Judge Kloepfer’s denial of a motion to strike a prior conviction. A peremptory writ was issued, which set an appearance date of November 26, 1985. In the call, Judge Kloepfer told Abram’s secretary that he took the writ as a personal affront, that he wasn’t going to stand for it and that he would hold Abrams in contempt if he did not appear in court the following morning ready for trial.
* Defying a writ of mandate granted by Judge Charles Bierschbach in April 1983 that he grant a continuance in the misdemeanor embezzlement case of People v. Carol Bowman after the prosecuting attorney, Deputy District Attorney Charles Blackwell, was called to the bedside of his ailing father and the substituting prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Michael Martinez, was denied a continuance and sought, with the assistance of then-Supervising Deputy District Attorney Art McKinster, the writ. After a second writ was obtained, staying the proceedings, Judge Kloepfer was abusive to Martinez in front of the jury and angrily questioned McKinster as to why he had sought the writ. McKinster went on to become a Superior Court Judge and was later elevated to the appellate court.
* In a series of cases, assessing attorney fees against defendants, ordering that the money be taken out of previously posted bails. The orders were made without regard to the actual cost of services, without regard to defendants’ ability to pay, without notifying the defendants of their rights to a noticed hearing, without notifying the defendants of the rights they could assert at the hearings, and without notifying them of their rights to petition the court to modify or vacate its judgment against them.
In November 1989, the California Supreme Court, based on a recommendation from the Commission on Judicial Performance, removed Kloepfer from his municipal court judge position based on a determination that 25 of the 47 acts of misconduct alleged against him were true.
Kloepfer, represented by Elaine Grillo Canty of Upland-based Canty & Canty and Thomas C. Brayton of Pomona-based Jones, Mahoney & Brayton sought an en bank California Supreme Court rehearing of the matter, but that request was denied on January 25, 1990.
Thus, the then-47-year-old Kloepfer’s hope of one day becoming a Superior Court judge died.
For many who lived in Rancho Cucamonga and its judicial district, their impression of the law and its forbidding nature was in some measure formed by Ken Kloepfer.
He handled some cases as an attorney thereafter, but eventually lost enthusiasm for the law both professionally and conceptually, though he remained somewhat engaged in politics and both national and international developments. He grew more interested in the simpler things of life, including raising dogs, tortoises and parrots.
He left earthly existence while in Upland on November 20, 2024, peacefully.
He is survived by his son, William, who was named after Ken Kloepfer’s father and grandfather, William Henry Kloepfer; and his daughter, Susannah.
–Mark Gutglueck