Judge accused of withholding evidence

SAN JOSE, Calif., July 2 (UPI) -- A Santa Clara County Superior judge in California withheld key evidence in a murder trial while serving as a prosecutor, an investigator alleges.

The San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News said Thursday a California Supreme Court investigator has accused judge Joyce Allegro of withholding information in the murder case of Miguel Angel Bacigalupo, who is now on death row.

The investigator alleges in a 39-page report released Wednesday that while serving as a Santa Clara County prosecutor, Allegro learned Bacigalupo had been ordered to kill brothers Jose Luis Guerrero and Orestes Guerrero by a drug lord.

Retired Judge Richard E. Amason said after hearing testimony from Allegro, he suspected the then-prosecutor failed to give Bacigalupo's defense team the information despite being required to by law.

"This evidence would have supported (Bacigalupo's) claim to have acted on death threats from the Colombian mafia," Amason wrote in his findings.

The Mercury News said since being appointed a judge, Allegro has twice been criticized for her handling of legal cases.