ended a dispute between two former federal prosecutors trying to win the same judgeship.<\/a><\/p>\nCharles Pell filed a lawsuit against the Orange County Registrar of Voters, which is in charge of printing ballot designations, over the sitting judge\u2019s request to appear on the ballot as \u201cAmi S. Sagel,\u201d rather than \u201cAmi Sheth Sagel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pell contended Sagel was trying to appear on the June 2 primary ballot under \u201ca previously unused name that is not one that voters know.\u201d Pell said the judge is listed as Amy Sheth Sagel in her OC Superior Court judicial assignments, and Pell accused Sagel of \u201crunning away\u201d from a record that he alleged \u201cpaints of picture of someone who doesn\u2019t have a good temperament.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sagel countered that the use of her middle initial \u201cis not misleading.\u201d Her attorney, during a hearing late last week, alleged that Sagel has been \u201cpicked on because she used a foreign-sounding name.\u201d Sagel also alleges that Pell told a former colleague, a federal prosecutor, more than a decade ago that \u201cthe way to win a judicial election was to target judges with \u2018f\u2014-d up names.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sheth is of Indian origin, said Sagel, and her maiden name.<\/p>\n
Pell\u2019s attorney denied their was racist intent behind challenging Sagel\u2019s ballot designation.<\/p>\n
San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Wilfred J. Schneider Jr, in his written ruling released late Monday, March 23, wrote that Sagel had used different versions of her name \u2014 with and without her middle name or initial \u2014 in professional settings.<\/p>\n
Judge Schneider also agreed with Sagel\u2019s request to force Pell to drop his ballot designation of \u201cFederal Criminal Prosecutor.\u201d The judge noted that Pell could have used his former official title of \u201cAssistant United States Attorney.\u201d But he added that it didn\u2019t appear there was time for Pell to submit another candidate statement with a new title.<\/p>\n
Judge Sagel, her husband, Brett Sagel, and Pell all worked together at one time for the local U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n
Judge Sagel spent five years as a federal prosecutor before starting a private legal practice; in 2013, Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed her as an Orange County Superior Court judge. Her husband stayed on as a federal prosecutor, handling numerous high-profile white-collar-crime cases.<\/p>\n
Pell was a federal prosecutor for more than two decades, in recent years leading headline-grabbing public-corruption cases against former Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do and former Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu.<\/p>\n
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