Judge Defends Career, Says He’s No Racist : Investigation: Retiring jurist McCartin says his ‘black paint’ remark was connected to African-American’s use of white makeup in taxi theft. He says he’s bitter about allegation of bias.

SANTA ANA — A retiring Orange County Superior Court judge, under investigation for allegedly making a racist statement, said Friday that he has treated all defendants fairly, regardless of race, during his 15 years on the bench.

A complaint to the state Commission on Judicial Performance said Judge Donald A. McCartin made the comment during a 1991 trial of an African-American man accused of using makeup to disguise himself as a white man while stealing a taxi cab.

During the trial, defendant Ronald Trotter asked his attorney to protest the fact that his jury was entirely white except for an African-American alternate. During a conference outside the jury’s earshot, McCartin responded that his only alternatives were to “do nothing about it or pass out some black paint.”

McCartin said the court transcript then shows that the conversation then turned to the lack of African-Americans in jury pools in Orange County, where they are 2% of the population.

McCartin said Friday that he only made the comment because the defendant had tried to use paint to alter his own race.

“I probably have tried hundreds of black people and I’ve never heard a boo or a complaint that I’ve treated anyone unfairly, not from a black, a Hispanic or a China man,” McCartin said.

McCartin, 68, acknowledged that he comes from a generation in which references to race were not treated as sensitively as today. But McCartin said critics should judge him by how he handles defendants, not by an off-the-cuff remark.

“Everyone who walks into my courtroom is treated fairly,” the judge said. “At the time, everyone smiled about it, even (the defendant’s) attorney. This case was upheld on appeal, and not a word was said about this at all.”

James Colquitt, president of the Orange County branch of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, declined to comment. Presiding Superior Court Judge Donald E. Smallwood also declined comment on a pending investigation. Trotter’s defense attorney did not return phone calls.

Deputy Dist. Atty. E. Thomas Dunn Jr., who prosecuted Trotter, said he still remembers the case clearly because it was so bizarre. A former serviceman who “went off the deep end,” Trotter tried to disguise himself as a white man to steal a taxi outside John Wayne Airport, Dunn said.

He commandeered the taxi and led police on a wild chase. He was shot and injured by police and later was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Dunn said he believes that Trotter made the complaint. Commission officials refused to comment Friday.

“I’m sure this guy was sitting in state prison reading through the court transcripts and decided he’d stick it to the judge who sent him away,” Dunn said.

“This whole thing makes me incensed that a man with such a distinguished career will go out like this--it’s just dastardly,” Dunn said. “In no way can anyone describe Judge McCartin as racist.”

McCartin said he received a letter of complaint after returning home from a “roast” in honor of his retirement. At first he thought it was a clever hoax by a fellow judge but soon realized it wasn’t.

McCartin, who had planned to sit on future cases as needed, said the pending complaint makes him ineligible for such an appointment. He said he is so bitter about the incident that he has also withdrawn from a monthlong assignment beginning June 1 in Sierra County because he wants to leave the legal system behind as quickly as possible.

In a three-page letter to the commission, McCartin said the Sierra Justice Court could obtain a “racially sensitive” judge.

“To say this whole thing has soured me is an understatement,” he said Friday.