Activists hoping to oust Orange County judge announce intent to seek recall election

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- A group trying to recall Orange County Superior Court Judge M. Marc Kelly tried but failed to serve him legal papers in his courtroom Friday. The activists want to recall the judge for reducing a state-mandated life sentence for a man convicted of sexually assaulting a three-year-old relative.

"He chose to hide, in my opinion, behind the court," said Bryan Scott, the chairman of the effort to remove Kelly from the bench.

Frustrated and flanked by victim advocates, Scott said he attempted to serve Kelly with a notice of intent to circulate a recall petition. He said they were prevented from entering Kelly's court, but the document was received by the general counsel.

"We're going to let all judges, all courts understand that at the end of the day they are accountable to the people," Scott said.

The recall effort comes after Kelly reduced Kevin Rojano-Nieto's sentence to 10 years in state prison. In December, the 20-year-old was convicted of sodomizing a 3-year-old girl, to whom he's related.

Kelly called the mandatory minimum sentence of 25 to life "cruel and unusual." The judge's decision sparked outrage among victims' rights groups and online petitions demanding his resignation.

On Friday, Jeoffrey Robinson, a former Deputy District Attorney and a colleague of Kelly's, defended the judge.

"Something in his history allowed him to make the call he made. If he's wrong, the system will work it out," Robinson said.

The Orange County District Attorney is appealing the sentence. While Superior Court policy prevents Kelly from commenting, Robinson says the judge has been feeling the full fallout of his decision.

"There have been emails, there have been comments. I know that at some point he had police protection in front of his house," Robinson said.

Now, the group must go about getting 90,000 valid signatures from registered Orange County voters to take this to a special election.