Dan Kapelovitz

This opinion piece is absurd and misleading for so many reasons. I'm working on a Letter to the Editor in response. We'll see if they have the courage to print it. (Met-News didn't print my response to their hit piece after telling me they would.) At the moment, I am fighting for Justice on my cases, so I might not have my response written right away.

Opinion: Rafael Perez: Judicial temperament is on the ballot in Walgren-Kapelovitz race dailynews.com/2026/05/07/raf…

Thank you, Knock LA!!!!

It's here. The Knock Voter Guide for the 2024 General Election is up on knock.la knock-la.com/the-knock-la-p…

This is great news! Knock LA endorsed me in their voter guide! knock-la.com/knock-voter-gu… @KnockDotLA

Here is my response to this absurd piece by the Met New found here. For full context, read this Met News piece first. metnews.com/articles/2026/… Here's the response that the Met News refused to publish (after telling me that they would publish a response written by me): Judicial Candidate Dan Kapelovitz Responds to the Metropolitan News-Enterprise. I’m not surprised that your right-wing-leaning publication did not endorse me. In fact, I would have been deeply offended if it did. However, I do want to respond to your most-recent piece on my judicial race. According to your publication, my campaign is “unconscionable” because incumbent Judge David Walgren might have to “spend personal funds on his campaign and be deprived of peace and mind until the ballots are counted.” What about the hundreds of people over the years who had to spend their hard-earned money to bail their loved ones out of jail because Judge Walgren unconscionably raised their loved ones’ bail? What about their peace of mind? What about the peace of mind of the people thrown in jail who are clearly no danger to the community and who are obviously not a flight risk as proven by their appearing at every prior court date? No other judge does this. Why does he do it? Is he punishing defendants – who are presumed innocent under our Constitution – because he thinks all defendants are automatically guilty? Is it because his pro-prosecution bias makes him want to incarcerate defendants pre-trial? He knows that defendants often plead guilty to crimes they did not commit just to get out of jail. And he knows that defendants who fight their cases while incarcerated are at an extreme disadvantage. Perhaps, he just throws them in jail for no reason except for pure cruelty. Whatever the reason, that he does this at all is what is truly unconscionable. Moreover, I do not merely “make note of a case” where Mr. Walgren unlawfully raised the bail of a single defendant. This is his policy. If you don’t believe me, ask him. And if he won’t respond to your requests for comment – which, so far, he hasn’t – ask any attorney who practices in San Fernando. Next, you write that I point to no cases where the Court of Appeal reversed Mr. Walgren. One reason (of many) that I decided to run against Mr. Walgren had to do with a case where an appellate court ruled that Mr. Walgren and his deputy district attorney friend and former colleague had violated a defendant’s Due Process rights. This case is worthy of its own article, which I am happy to write for your publication – at no charge. I’m surprised your writer is not more familiar with the legal system. There are dozens of reasons why a judge who acted immorally or unlawfully is not overturned on appeal. There are too many to write about here. But I’ll mention a few: First, if a judge acts immorally but within the law, an appellate court is not going to overturn that decision. Second, not all cases are appealed or even appealable. When defendants are acquitted, they have no reason to appeal no matter what a judge may have done. Third, approximately 95 percent of cases are plea-bargained. If so, most rulings by a judge are not appealable. And fourth, appellate courts, preferring finality of cases, often get it wrong and engage in all kinds of legal gymnastics to justify affirming a conviction. The list goes on. But I’ll mention one more reason because it applies to Mr. Walgren specifically: Mr. Walgren languished in the preliminary-hearing courtroom for years. Decisions made at the preliminary-hearing stage are rarely appealed. Moreover, attorneys can file a motion in the trial court to dismiss the charges for insufficient evidence when the charges should have been dismissed at the preliminary-hearing stage. You also claim that, if Walgren was so biased in favor of the prosecution, defense attorneys would have used their one peremptory challenge against him pursuant to California Code of Civil Procedure section 170.6. Guess what? They did and they still do. In fact, this is probably why Mr. Walgren languished in a preliminary-hearing courtroom for as long as he did While we’ll never know the actual reason, an educated guess is that his superiors knew that so many attorneys would use their one preemptory challenge against him due to his pro-prosecution bias that they didn’t want to burden other judges with his cases. And most defense attorneys do not use their one 170.6 against a preliminary-hearing judge because for most cases because saving it for the trial court judge is much more important. Even so, in Mr. Walgen’s case, many attorneys made an exception. You write that I like to run for offices that I have no chance of winning. But if I have no chance of winning, why would Mr. Walgren need to “spend personal funds on his campaign and be deprived of peace and mind until the ballots are counted”? Furthermore, based on my definition of “winning,” I have won every election I’ve been in. When I ran for governor in the recall election, I campaigned against the recall. The recall failed. I won. I then ran for Attorney General as the Green Party candidate with the goal of receiving more than two percent of the vote – the amount needed to allow the Green Party to remain on the ballot for the next four years. I received more than two percent and even got 100,000 votes in Los Angeles County alone. Another win. Then I ran for Los Angeles District Attorney. Your paper (and most people) would probably say that I lost because I came in last place. But I consider that campaign to be my most successful to date. I was able to talk to people all over the county about how to fix our broken criminal justice system. Another metric I use to gauge the success of my campaigns is the number of votes received per dollar spent. Using that metric, I’ve come in first in every race. Because I refuse to take money from Political Action Committees and attorneys who might appear before me – and I challenge Mr. Walgren and every other judicial candidate to do the same – I guarantee that, even if by some chance I don’t get elected, I will have received more votes-per-dollar-spent than Mr. Walgren. In other words, if we could take money out of elections, I would win in a landslide. Finally, on a lighter note, I must address the pseudo-scandal that your publication was the first to “expose.” I’ve dubbed it “Mailboxgate.” Your publication is obsessed with the fact that I don’t have a physical office and that I, instead, use a mailbox (which, as even you point out, completely comports with the law and the California Rules of Court,). I would wager that the vast majority of sole practitioners these days – especially criminal defense attorneys – do not rent office space. About 90 percent of my cases are court-appointed felony cases for indigent clients. As such, I am almost always in court, visiting clients in jail, going to the scene of the incident, or doing other out-of-office case preparation to properly defend my clients. Even if I rented an office, I’d never be there. But you do bring up a great point: Private criminal defense attorneys should be provided with offices in the courthouses just as prosecutors, deputy public defenders and judges are. If my not renting office space is your biggest critique of me, Mr. Walgren is indeed in trouble.

@craigharrisontv @arielxpink @koolskull I think it was something like $5,000 at the time.

@Kapelovitz @arielxpink @koolskull How much?

you guys don’t understand that Ariel really is the original edgelord maximus outsider thrash legend. he practically invented being cancelled for making this somewhat rude painting of his teachers at Cal Arts. He got into big trouble but it all worked out.

Here is a questionnaire I did for the Los Angeles Daily News: What do you consider to be your judicial philosophy? I’ll actually follow the Constitution. I’m an originalist, but one with the understanding that the original Constitution was written to be a “living” one with room to expand as our nation progresses. The Constitution is the highest law of the land and must be interpreted to serve liberty and justice and to protect individual rights. I oppose our broken two-tiered criminal-law system: One for the rich, and one for the poor. We need to uphold all constitutional rights, including the Equal Protection Clause. To further uphold the law and the Constitution, I will not be afraid to grant Racial Justice Act petitions that deserve to be granted. Judges need to do everything possible to eliminate racial bias in all forms from the courts. Sentencing should be truly proportional. Extreme sentences serve no purpose and can actually be counterproductive. The goal should be to prevent harm – not cause more harm. And we must not have any bias towards one side or another. That is one of the main reasons that I decided to run for judge and why I chose to run for this particular office. How do you think your personal experience — legal or otherwise — would inform your decisions as a judge? I didn’t go straight from college to law school. I’ve had years of experience unrelated to schooling or law, during which I’ve made friends from all walks of life. Judges who have never lived in the real world are missing life experiences crucial to being a good judge. I ‘ve also had a variety of jobs prior to going to law school, so I have at least some understanding of what working people deal with. No one knows exactly what anyone else is going through, but having diverse life experiences allows a judge to better identify with others. Many judges have never even personally known someone accused of a crime. I’ve appeared before every kind of judge. I even clerked for a federal judge. I’ve learned what makes a good judge (and, unfortunately, what makes a bad one). I represent indigent clients as well as witnesses and victims. I understand how just being in a criminal courtroom can be extremely stressful. Some judges add to the misery by abusing people. Nothing is gained by abusing others. It only makes a bad situation worse. Judges who do this are insecure about their judicial abilities. I promise that I’ll never act like those judges. How would you approach situations where you have judicial discretion within the law? Where I have discretion, I promise to never abuse it. I will seriously consider all arguments. And I would not be biased toward one side or the other. However, I will err on the side of justice. I understand how seriously it is to use discretion wisely, especially because appellate courts rarely find that a trial court judge has abused his or her discretion (even when that judge clearly has). How would you weigh your own personal beliefs against the law, should they conflict? My personal beliefs are to uphold the law, especially the Constitution. So there is currently no conflict. If a situation comes up where my beliefs do come in conflict with the law, as a judge, I would follow the law. And if a situation arose where I could not follow the law in good conscience because I believe doing so would be immoral, I would have to recuse myself or even resign, if appropriate. The people vote judges into office to uphold the Constitution, not to unethically act on their own personal beliefs, especially when those personal beliefs are themselves quite disturbing. That is precisely why I entered this election. As an existing member of the legal community, how would you handle potential claims of misconduct against local attorneys, law firms or law enforcement organizations? (Please limit your answer to 200 words or less.) Claims of misconduct must be taken extremely seriously. At the same time, the accused is entitled to a meaningful hearing to address these accusations. For years, Thomas Girardi got away with stealing tens of millions of dollars from his clients, in part, because State Bar employees had accepted gifts from his firm. This is precisely why I refuse to accept campaign contributions from attorneys or from PACs funded by attorneys. I challenge all judicial candidates to do the same. We also need more transparency. Just to learn of complaints against law enforcement, attorneys must jump through numerous hoops – even though the Constitution requires the disclosure of this information. And if an attorney is finally given this information, that attorney is forbidden from sharing it. Judges also need to be held accountable. One judge, Emily Cole, sent an ex parte text to the prosecution during trial because she thought the DA should be calling a certain witness to testify. Instead of removing this judge from the bench for this outrageous conduct, the Commission merely imposed what it called “a severe public censure.” I was asked to run against Cole. But I decided that unseating Walgren was even more important. What is your philosophy on judicial activism and a judge’s potential role in shaping or setting public policy? People call judges they disagree with “activist judges” and judges they agree with “judges who faithfully follow the law.” The truth is that too many judges base their decisions on their politics. This is especially true of the Supreme Court, and why its approval rating is so low. While completely ignoring one’s politics is almost impossible, politics has no role in any judge’s decision-making. However, when a judge has discretion, that judge can and should consider public policy consequences and the effects any decision may have on the parties involved. For example, judges should give defendants a chance to change for the better by participating in various treatment programs, including mental health diversion, when appropriate. Such programs prevent crimes from happening in the first place. Judges also need to rid their courtrooms of racial bias and take Equal Protection claims seriously, where stops and searches are based on racial profiling. Furthermore, judges need to rule against any party who tries to dismiss a juror based on that juror’s race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation or any other similar impermissible grounds. Trial court judges rarely shape public policy, but they have a huge effect on individual people’s lives. dailynews.com/2026/05/04/dan… #losangelescounty #lacounty @LAProgressive @dsa_losangeles @laweekly @LAist @the_lalocal @NarroVictor @GroundGameLA @FairRepLA @LAmag @JamesQueallyLAT @Elex_Michaelson @LADefensx

I am honored that the Green Party of Los Angeles County has endorsed my campaign for judge. losangeles.cagreens.org/voter-guide-ju… #losangelescounty #lacounty @LAProgressive @dsa_losangeles @laweekly @LAist @the_lalocal @NarroVictor @GroundGameLA @FairRepLA @LAmag @JamesQueallyLAT @Elex_Michaelson @LADefensx

@JamesQueallyLAT What about judicial candidates? What's your phone number?

Anytime anyone wants to call me — I promise I’d be just as good at yelling at mayoral candidates as I am at shouting at D.A.’s office candidates every four years…

@arielxpink @koolskull I tried to buy that drawing but your co-artist wanted more than I could afford.

@koolskull caselaw.findlaw.com/court/ca-court…

@JamesQueallyLAT We're investigating some disturbing "gangster" like activity meant to thwart my campaign. I'l let you know when we have hard evidence.

One judge claims he's faced "gangster" style threats from other judges. Another was banished to a "closet" for years over concerns about his mental health, but wants to stay in office. L.A. judicial races are bringing the drama this year. My latest: latimes.com/california/sto…

@arielxpink As a big-time Hollywood celebrity, I am willing to platform you by hiring you to write a campaign song for my judicial campaign.

i dare any celebrity to platform me or champion me. go ahead. i dare u.

@arielxpink OK. I'll do it.

"This is what's happening?" you ask. This: youtu.be/SUFsMZb1aSw?si…