Alameda County DA and Head Judge strongarm political critics

Corrupt Alameda County Court Officials Use Strong Arm Tactics to Cover Up Unethical Actions

Alameda County District Attorney Thomas Orloff, and Superior Court Judge Barbara Miller, have taken part in a concerted effort to suppress news of an embezzlement committed by a formerly prominent East Bay Attorney. Some background is in order:

The lawyer, Martin Nakahara of Oakland, a former President of the Alameda County Bar, and older brother of current Judge Vernon Nakahara, had known DA Orloff for many years at the time the embezzlement was discovered.

According to Alameda County Superior Court records, (Carzon v. Nakahara), Nakahara stole about $65,000 from the estate of Carzon's brother. Carzon, who lived in Manila, was the victim, because she was the main beneficiary of the estate. Carzon was informed of the embezzlement by Randall Ishikawa, a young lawyer who had worked with Nakahara, then returned to his native Hawaii.

Soon after Nakahara was sued by Carzon, his wife of many decades filed a one-page divorce action, which had a date of separation before the embezzlement took place. This lawsuit was never answered by Nakahara, and apparently was completely phony, intended only to protect the wife's part of community property which might be taken in the lawsuit.

Before Carzon's lawsuit had progressed very far, it was settled, (Carzon's Oakland Attorney James Paschl later said his client was "made whole", but it's not clear she received any punitive damages) and a few months after that, Nakahara resigned from the California Bar, "in good standing".

A resignation from the Bar "in good standing" allows a lawyer to apply for reinstatement, at any time, and unless some ethics violation has come to light, reinstatement will be allowed. Most probably, Carzon insisted on Nakahara's resignation, without knowing it was mostly for show. In fact, it was all for show, because Nakahara continued practicing law after his resignation, without missing a beat.

It's worth pointing out here, it is not logical for Ishikawa, who revealed the theft to the victim, to not tell the District Attorney about it. Failure to report a crime is in itself a crime, and because of his association with Nakahara Ishikawa would have either told no one, including the victim, or told District Attorney Tom Orloff. Apparently, Orloff did not act on the information given him about the crime, until the civil lawsuit made it impossible to deny.

It's also worth noting, Orloff had known both Nakahara brothers for over 20 years at the time the theft occurred, (Nakahara and Orloff both began their law careers in the Alameda County District Attorney's Office, only one year apart, in the early 70's, younger brother Vernon was hired a few years later) and so was required by prosecutorial ethics to recuse himself from the case, but did not.

After his resignation, Nakahara continued to practice law, and represented my exwife in my divorce. I discovered Nakahara was no longer allowed to practice law, and revealed this in Barbara Miller's courtroom. Miler made a point of trying to cover for Nakahara