GILROY
– Retired judge Joseph Biafore witnessed multiple dramas play
out in the courtroom during his nearly 30 years on the bench in
Santa Clara County.
GILROY – Retired judge Joseph Biafore witnessed multiple dramas play out in the courtroom during his nearly 30 years on the bench in Santa Clara County.
He is best known for his hard work, fairness and, perhaps, his composure. A subject once pulled his pants down in court and showed the judge his backside. Biafore calmly sentenced the man to 20 years – “10 years for each cheek.”
This story sparked laughter at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, where the long-time Gilroyan was honored by the Santa Clara County Trial Lawyers Association with a Lifetime Achievement Award in May. The annual award is for judges who have made significant contributions to the justice system.
“He is one of the all-time greatest judges that Santa Clara County ever had,” said Bob Allard, president of the Santa Clara County Trial Lawyers Association. “We polled the vast majority of members in the Santa Clara County Bar. It wasn’t even close.”
Biafore, 68, was one of the longest-sitting judges in the county. During his career, Biafore conducted high-profile murder cases and decided ground-breaking civil matters.
“If judge Biafore ruled against them, they would understand because he was making a fair decision,” Allard said. “He was what a judge should be. All of the characteristics that you would look for in a judge, he had all of them: fairness, impartiality, sound decisions based on the law and facts of each case. He was truly professional and affable.”
One notable case he heard was the death-penalty case of people of Richard Farley, who in 1988 entered the offices of ESL Inc., a Sunnyvale defense contractor, and killed seven people in a rage over unrequited love. The jury found Farley guilty and recommended the death penalty. Biafore sentenced Farley to death, rejecting the defense’s request for a modified sentence of life in prison and a request for a new trial.
Biafore remembers the Farley case and many others dating back to cases he tried as a lawyer.
“I think back about them all of the time,” he said. “I think about the people I have dealt with. You’ve got to be absolutely impervious if you don’t have feelings for people.”
But he doesn’t regret any of his decisions.
“Once you make it (the decision), you make it, there’s no reason to go back and dwell on it,” he said. “And usually it’s the correct decision, almost always. That’s what appellate courts are for, to fix our mistakes.”
During the past 10 years, he was assigned exclusively to the Santa Clara County Superior Court’s Civil Division. He said civil court was an exciting place to be – especially in this technological hub.
“As a Supreme Court judge, especially in Santa Clara County, we’re cutting edge. We had all of the new developments in the law, the new issues relative to technology,” he said, particularly in regard to intellectual property rites and trade secrets in technology. “It was fun to watch it evolve. It was fun to be part of the process, fun to help carve the law in many respects that other areas don’t get to do.”
Biafore’s roots are in South County. He grew up in Gilroy, picking crops in the fields and pumping gas at area stations with his three siblings as a teen-ager. While serving in the Army, he decided he wanted to be a lawyer.
“I always felt that attorneys could do things that other people couldn’t do, as far as having a nice lifestyle and you get to help people,” he said.
He used the GI Bill to earn his bachelor’s degree from San Jose State University in 1960 and graduated from the Utah University of Law four years later. He returned to Gilroy and became a partner with Jacobs and Biafore from 1966 to 1974.
“When I was practicing law, I thoroughly enjoyed it,” Biafore said. “I just loved working in a small town like Gilroy because I knew everybody and most everybody knew me. The practice was quiet, and my children were growing up here and it was just a great life.”
He was content as a practicing attorney and hadn’t thought about becoming a judge until the opportunity arose in 1974. He first became a judge on the Gilroy-Morgan Hill Justice Court. When the court was consolidated into the countywide system, he became a municipal court judge.
Judge Thomas Hansen, whose home court is Dept. 22 – adjacent to Biafore’s former Dept. 21 in San Jose – tried cases in front of his colleague in those early years in South County.
“He was a very accommodating gentleman, hard working, easy to get along with, just a pleasure to appear in his courtroom,” Hansen said.
In 1983, former Gov. George Deukmejian appointed Biafore to the Santa Clara County Superior Court, where he was a judge until he retired at the end of last year.
“I miss my colleagues,” Biafore said. “I miss my people I worked with, my staff, all of the people that had been around me for all those years.”
But he hasn’t gone far. Now, he helps resolve disputes at JAMS, a provider of alternative dispute resolution with an office two blocks from the county courthouse.
“I haven’t really left the law,” he said. “I am still doing it, working with the same lawyers, working with the same types of cases.”
Plus, two of his children are following in his footsteps. His daughter, Lani, is a deputy district attorney and his youngest son, Derek, is a second-year law student at the University of the Pacific. He and his wife Barbara have two other children, Jeff and Brent.
Allard and his many colleagues still think of Biafore fondly.
“He’s a good man, a great judge,” he said.
