Arbitrating numerous cases is all in a day’s work for San Benito
judge
Just before Judge Steven Sanders, draped in his black robe, steps from his chambers into the short hallway that will lead him into his San Benito County courtroom, he repeats the mantra in his head: “A judge is to be calm, patient and fair.”
It’s a ritual he observes each time he enters the courtroom where he spends his days arraigning the accused, listening to lawyers’ arguments and sentencing the convicted.
“I remind myself every time I go out there of the awesome power that a judge wields,” Sanders said.
Sanders, 50, is presiding judge of San Benito County’s Superior Court – one of California’s busiest courts. With an ever-increasing case load, he and his colleague on the bench, Judge Harry Tobias, do the work of four-and-a-half judges.
On any given day, Sanders, who won his seat six years ago, may hear more than 100 criminal cases – ranging from felonies like manslaughter to misdemeanors such as parents allowing their children to miss school. A few years ago, Sanders heard a record 247 cases in one day.
It’s a heavy load, but Sanders never shied away from hard work.
A Self-made Man
The Salinas native put himself through college – the University of California, Davis, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in communications – by scrubbing chicken grease off pots and pans in the college cafeteria.
“I was a glorious pot washer,” he said. “It was a lonely, isolated job to be in the pot room on a Sunday night.”
When he was just a sophomore, Sanders got married. After graduation, he enrolled in the University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law, working all the while as a clerk at a Sacramento law firm. Sanders said that the law was a natural direction for him to take.
“I’ve always been interested in the law,” he said. “From day one, I liked to spar verbally with my father. I always felt I had an affinity for advocacy.”
Just as he prepared to take the state bar exam in 1983, Sanders’ wife gave birth to their first child – a daughter who is now 23 years old. Sanders and his wife also have a 20-year-old son.
San Benito Beginnings
Shortly after passing the bar exam, Sanders and his young family moved to Hollister, where he went to work for a local law firm. There he practiced a broad array of law, including criminal, civil, divorce and business law.
“It was a very typical Hollister general practice,” he said. “I’ve probably practiced every type of law darn near imaginable.”
In 1987, Sanders became county counsel for San Benito – a job that he held until he was elected judge and took the bench in 2000. Sanders, who ran for the seat when his predecessor retired, says that donning the robe came naturally.
“I enjoyed kind of transitioning to deciding and resolving disputes rather than just advocating for one side, and so it was just kind of a natural progression,” he said. “I think it’s just, for me personally, the growth as an individual in enjoying that transition from being an advocate to being an impartial arbiter.”
Working in a general law practice and then being county counsel – who often takes on a quasi-judicial role of mediator for the Board of Supervisors – laid the sturdy legal foundation on which Sanders has built his judicial career.
“You never realize that all the experiences you have along the way can add up and benefit you – a bank account that you can draw upon,” he said.
New Challenges, Rising Case Loads
During his time on the bench, Sanders said the biggest change has been the number of cases he hears each day. Six years ago he thought 56 cases in a day was a lot. In the span of about three years, misdemeanor filings more than doubled, he said.
The reason for the increase, Sanders said, is simple: “It’s California. The population grows.”
As the case load has grown, Sanders has tried to make the court and himself more efficient. To that end, when he became presiding judge – the administrative head of the local court – Sanders instituted the pretrial conference, which gives him a chance to meet with lawyers to discuss the details of a case before the trial.
“The important challenge is each day to deal with (the high case load) yet still be able to focus all my attention on (a specific) case, because those who are involved in that case deserve it.”
Different types of cases seem to come in cycles, Sanders said. During his first year on the bench, Sanders heard eight homicide cases. Normally there would be about two, he said. Drunk driving cases increase during holidays, and domestic violence cases increase during warm weather, he said.
Sanders says he tries to spot trends and adjust accordingly. During the year with the eight murders, for example, he began doling out tougher sentences to people convicted of domestic violence because many of the murders had started as domestic violence.
“Sentencing involves three basic theories: Deterrence, punishment and rehabilitation,” Sanders said. “So when you’re doing sentencing decisions, you’re always considering those three factors.”
No Rest for the Weary
Sanders doesn’t do all of his work wearing the black robe and sitting elevated in the court room; he often has to act in his judicial capacity wearing pajamas while in bed. Judges are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And Sanders said he often gets awakened by his cell phone in the middle of the night because some law enforcement officer is requesting an emergency protective order for a child or a search warrant.
“After a while, you get used to the middle-of-the-night phone calls,” he said, adding that after six years of nocturnal calls, his wife rarely stirs at the sound of the phone ringing.
Being a judge – or any actor in the criminal justice system – and spending your days dealing with the problems of others does have an effect on a person’s outlook, Sanders said.
“The tendency is to view the world a little more, I think, cynically when you’re a legal professional,” he said.
As an antidote to that cynicism, Sanders said, it is important to have ways to relax, release and reaffirm the good in society. For him, that includes singing in San Benito County’s Oriana Chorale, a singing group. Sanders is a tenor and sings the occasional solo.
“It’s a great release,” he said. “It’s a very good, relaxing outlet. Especially doing criminal cases, it’s a complete change once a week.”
Sanders is also a wood worker – a hobby he started in law school that served the dual purpose of being a way to relax and a way to get inexpensive furniture.
“Since you work all day in the law and you don’t work with your hands, it’s nice to do both and a have a full approach to life,” he said
