Santa Barbara judge admonished for angry outburst
January 15, 2025
Judge Thomas R. Adams
By KAREN VELIE
Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Thomas R. Adams was slapped last month with a public reprimand for inappropriate conduct during court proceedings, his third to date, according to the Commission on Judicial Performance.
The 84-year-old Adams was admonished after he yelled, threw off his glasses and threw papers at a defense attorney because he thought she shook her head at him. Deputy Public Defender Reem Yassin had passed the bar just three-months earlier.
Adams later sent Yassin a letter apologizing for his inappropriate conduct.
In addition, Adams made misleading statements to the California Commission on Judicial Performance during a previous ethics investigation in June 2023, when he said he already served his final day on the bench. However, he did not retire.
In 1993, the commission levied a private admonishment on Adams after he ordering a pro se family law litigant to be taken into custody for two days without a contempt hearing.
Judge Adams has been a judge of the Santa Barbara County Superior Court for nearly 50 years. His current term began in 2021.
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