Judge squashes San Mateo County sheriff's attempt to halt removal hearing
'The Court is skeptical that Corpus will ever be able to prevail on her claims that the removal process violates her federal constitutional rights,' District Court Judge Vince Chhabria said. 'But even if there were serious questions going to the merits of her claims, the Court would decline to take the extraordinary step of interfering with an ongoing local government process.'
Corpus' public removal hearing is slated for August 18, one of the last steps in a months-long venture to oust the first-term sheriff accused of creating a hostile workplace culture. In March, voters overwhelmingly passed a charter amendment granting county supervisors the authority to remove Corpus.
Voters greenlit the removal process months after supervisors in November released a bombshell, independent, 400-plus page report that corroborated several allegations against the sheriff.
Supervisors called for her resignation, but Corpus resisted, calling efforts to remove her 'disgusting' and filed in January her own lawsuit against the county, seeking $10 million on grounds that she was discriminated against for being Latinx and a woman.
At the center of the allegations is Corpus' allegedly romantic relationship with Victor Aenlle, a real estate agent she hired to consult for her transition team.
County officials ended his contract after she told the county executive the two had traveled to Hawaii together, but in January 2023, Corpus rehired him as a full-time contractor making $92 an hour, and soon, she had hired him for a $246,000 full-time position, all without publicizing the job opening, according to the independent report.
'Lies, secrecy, intimidation, retaliation, conflicts of interest, and abuses of authority are the hallmarks of the Corpus administration,' retired judge LaDoris Cordell said late last year in her independent report into allegations made against the sheriff. 'Nothing short of new leadership can save this organization that is in turmoil, and its personnel demoralized.'
Before supervisors can strip Corpus of her position, she has the right for a full evidentiary hearing, where each side has up to five days to call witnesses.
Corpus' removal hearing is expected to conclude August 29. Retired judge James Emerson will then have 30 days to issue an opinion. Afterward, four out of five supervisors must agree to remove Corpus as sheriff for the county to move forward.
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