One judge claims his colleagues have adopted a “gangster mentality” in order to shut him up.
Another compared the state board accusing him of serious misconduct to “the Russian mafia.”
Judicial elections are usually sleepy affairs, subject to little political fanfare or interest. But two battles on the June ballot in Los Angeles have raised the temperature this campaign season and invited questions about the lengths members of the insular local bench will go to protect their own.
Lawyers who aspire to become judge often run for open seats. The challengers in these races, however, say they specifically targeted incumbents they believe are unfit for the office, which carries an annual salary of more than $244,000.
One of the contests could unseat 84-year-old Judge Robert Draper, who is seeking reelection despite having spent the last three years relegated to a room at the Santa Monica courthouse without a computer or caseload, which two other judges described to The Times as a “closet.”
In 2023, then-Presiding Justice Samantha Jessner said Draper was “unable to carry out the duties and responsibilities of a judge” due to deteriorating mental and physical health, according to a letter she sent to the state’s Commission on Judicial Performance.
Draper denied all wrongdoing in an interview with The Times, and said that although he has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, he remains fit for the bench. He has also been accused of sexual harassment and making improper and biased comments by the judicial commission. He is contesting those claims. A hearing that could result in his removal began Monday and is expected to last into early May.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Paul Thompson at Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
The other incumbent fighting to save his seat is Judge Pat Connolly, 61, a former prosecutor who has drawn support from several other sitting L.A. County judges. But his opponent, Deputy Dist. Atty. Paul Thompson, has called Connolly a “rogue judge” who needs to be replaced.
Connolly has been disciplined multiple times in his 18-year judicial tenure for improper comments toward litigants and, in one case, exhibiting bias against a defense attorney against whom he was weighing contempt charges, according to state judicial commission records.
Thompson, who gained notoriety for his role winning a rape conviction against Harvey Weinstein, purchased the rights to the domain name “patconnolly4judge.com,” which now redirects to one of the commission’s admonishments of Connolly.
“What I see is a man who repeatedly prioritizes his own goodwill over that of the community and the public he is serving … a man who has been repeatedly disciplined for prioritizing his own interests,” said Thompson, who has been endorsed by the L.A. County Democratic Party.
In a bizarre turn, the race was linked to the recent shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Assn. dinner after conservative influencers posted a picture of a Thompson campaign sign on the Torrance lawn of the suspected gunman, Cole Tomas Allen.
Thompson lives next door to the Allen family and described the suspect’s parents as great neighbors. He said he didn’t know their son and dismissed “internet trolls” for trying to tie his campaign to political violence.
This year’s election has sparked conversations about the unwavering support incumbent judges seem to enjoy among their colleagues.
Despite the concerns about Draper’s health, a political action committee run by fellow judges gave $72,500 to his campaign, state election finance records show. The PAC gave the same amount to Connolly.
Judge Maria Lucy Armendariz, who oversees the PAC, did not return a call seeking comment.
“The PAC has some explaining to do here. Why is there this show of support for someone who is facing so many challenges?” asked Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor who now teaches at Loyola Law School. “It doesn’t reflect well on the bench.”
Deputy Dist. Atty. Tal Khan Valbuena at Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Draper’s opponent is Deputy Dist. Atty. Tal Khan Valbuena, a refugee from Pakistan who works in the Hollywood mental health court. Khan Valbuena believes his lived experience as a gay Muslim who has faced bigotry will bring a compassionate perspective to a bench some complain is overrun with old-school tough-on-crime prosecutors.
But he also expressed concern about Draper’s mental decline after meeting him for lunch earlier this year.
“His honor had exemplified disorganized thought behavior, tangential thought … things I see on a day-to-day basis [in mental health court],” Khan Valbuena said, while acknowledging that he is not a doctor.
The Los Angeles County Bar Assn. issued its ratings for every judicial candidate last week. Connolly graded best among the judges in the contentious races, described as “well qualified.” Thompson and Khan Valubena were rated as “qualified.” Draper was one of only three candidates labeled “unqualified.”
In 2022, Judge Eric Taylor said he noticed a sharp change in Draper’s behavior that included sending “abusive” and “incoherent” e-mails to colleagues that contained racist and profane language, according to a letter Taylor sent to the state judicial commission.
“He has demonstrated a flagging handle on reality,” Taylor wrote.
Draper was accused of sexual harassment, making racist remarks and callous behavior all over the course of one hearing. According to the state judicial complaint and testimony at Draper’s removal hearing on Monday, the judge allegedly stroked a female lawyer’s hair after going on a tangent to a Black attorney about “Black history, Black football players, the Civil Rights Act, and the Black Lives Matter movement,” even though the case had nothing to do with those issues.
Judge Robert Draper outside the Ronald Reagan Federal Building in Los Angeles.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Later in chambers that same day, he made crude remarks to a group of female attorneys while reflecting on his time as a civil attorney, recalling how male lawyers would deride female secretaries, insisting they learn to “f— better than they could type,” according to testimony given by attorney Janice Brown at Draper’s hearing.
Brown told the review panel that Draper’s behavior left her “aghast” and “perplexed.”
Draper denied much of what was in the complaint. He says that he never touched a lawyer’s hair, and that the comments about Black culture were meant to express his pride at racial progress in America. He criticized the Commission on Judicial Performance.
“This is like the Russian mafia, it’s like Germany,” he said. “There’s no due process for any judge.”
Draper’s attorney, Ashley Posner, said his client would routinely walk up seven flights of stairs when he was assigned to the downtown Stanley Mosk courthouse and remains sharp.
“Things were set up to portray him in the worst light possible … he’s been portrayed as a bigot. He’s been portrayed as doddering and demented, which couldn’t be further from the truth,” Posner said.
In court on Monday, Posner suggested the complaint was part of a broader campaign to force Draper to retire and accused the L.A. County Superior Court’s leadership of ageism. A court spokesperson said they could not comment on personnel matters.
The race between Connolly and Thompson has also focused heavily on alleged misconduct.
Connolly’s past admonishments by the state commission include complaints that he yelled at attorneys for appearing remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. The judge also told a recently acquitted defendant that he knew the man was guilty, records show.
“I don’t think it’s as much what I’ve said as how I have said it. I think that they have taken issue with the terms that I’ve used,” Connolly said, noting he has never been accused of ethical violations or moral impropriety.
L.A. County Superior Court Judge Pat Connolly at the Compton Courthouse.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
A legal expert raised questions in 2023 about the propriety of Connolly seeking to disqualify a fellow judge from ruling on a petition to resentence a convicted cop killer that Connolly had prosecuted in the late 2000s. The state commission is also currently reviewing two additional complaints against Connolly, according to e-mails seen by The Times. Connolly said he couldn’t comment on either situation.
In an interview with The Times, Connolly said he was surprised by the “venom” Thompson had injected into the race.
He said he sees himself as a fair jurist with a knack for finding creative solutions to cases that balance public safety and alternatives to incarceration. In 2022, court records show, he negotiated a plea deal for an NFL player facing prison time for weapons charges, ordering him to organize sports camps for underprivileged youth.
“I’m one of those who listens to both sides, who gives both sides the opportunity to voice their positions,” he said.
Connolly enjoys the support of many sitting judges and law enforcement leaders, including former Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley and the head of the court’s criminal division, Ricardo Ocampo.
Thompson says some of Connolly’s allies on the bench have come after his supporters.
When Thompson launched his campaign, he published an endorsement from L.A. County Superior Court Judge Scott Yang on his campaign website. Within weeks, Thompson said, Yang asked him to take the endorsement down, claiming he was being pressured by other judges.
Yang, who presides over a court in the Antelope Valley, said his colleagues on the bench exhibited a “gangster mentality” when they told him to withdraw his endorsement in a judicial election, according to a text message reviewed by The Times.
“They were going to target him. They were going to run at him. They were potentially going to make false disciplinary reports around him,” Thompson said.
Connolly was not accused of being involved in the alleged harassment and declined to discuss the matter. Yang did not respond to multiple requests for comment. A court spokesperson said they had not received any reports of threats made against Yang, but a law enforcement source said Yang told them he was harassed by fellow judges over his endorsement of Thompson. The source spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals from the bench.
The conflict has generated whispers among L.A. County judges, one of whom requested anonymity due to concerns of backlash for speaking publicly. Word of the threats against Yang, the judge said, left some fearing they too could face retribution for breaking ranks.
“It’s totally concerning,” the judge said. “How different is that than the deputy gangs?”
Britain’s Jack Draper had to retire in the third set of his first-round match against Tomas Martin Etcheverry at the Barcelona Open because of a knee injury.
Draper, playing his first match of the clay-court season, won the first set against Argentina’s Etcheverry 6-3 but began to have difficulty with his movement and lost the second set 6-3.
The 24-year-old received attention from a physio and had tape applied to an area below his right knee shortly before the deciding set started.
His serve was broken twice by Etcheverry in the third set and, after struggling to get around the court, he conceded the contest at 4-1 down.
He was absent for six months because of a bruised bone in his left serving arm, before returning to competitive action in February.
The Barcelona Open was Draper’s fourth event since he made his comeback.
Etcheverry said Draper is a “great competitor” and is keen to see him back on court again in the near future.
“I like how he plays – he’s a great fighter,” he said. “Hopefully he can recover as soon as he can to get back on tour because the tour likes him.”
Cameron Norrie, who replaced Draper as British number one last month, beat Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 to progress through his first-round tie.
Norrie served out for the match at 5-4 in the second set but let the 41-year-old back into the contest before he got himself back on track in the deciding set.
“I put myself in a winning position serving at a set and 5-4 up,” said Norrie, 30, who will play Ethan Quinn of the United States in the second round.
“I played a little tentatively in two shots and then I was very tight in the tie-break. I probably should have won it then, but credit to him. I played at a really good level in the third set.”
Jessi Draper of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” is accusing her estranged second husband, Jordan Ngatikaura, of being involved in pretty much all of the above.
Ngatikaura filed for divorce Thursday in Utah after five years of marriage to Draper. Though that was far from the start of their marital problems, she told Alex Cooper during Wednesday’s episode of “Call Her Daddy” — which was taped Friday — that the dissolution filing was something they had agreed to do together. Then he changed his mind, she said, and she got the news via TMZ.
“I’m the one who ended it. I told him on Friday the 13th, so not that long ago, and I just said I want a divorce. He definitely didn’t want it. And now he’s the one rushing to do it, which is a little strange,” Draper told Cooper.
Also strange, in her view, was his choice to state on the documents that she had had an affair, though they had agreed previously that the reason would be the tried-and-true and totally non-gossipy “irreconcilable differences.” Plus Draper had only kissed another man twice, she said. She never had a physical affair with Marciano Brunette of “Vanderpump Villa,” though their emotional affair was a big part of the third season of “Mormon Wives.” Also, Utah is a no-fault state when it comes to divorce.
The Times was unable to contact Ngatikaura on Wednesday for comment on Draper’s allegations.
During the chat, Draper called her estranged husband “calculated” and “emotionally abusive” and said he told her he had been advised by someone to file on his own. She also admitted to Cooper that their marriage most likely was what it was because she went too quickly from divorcing her first husband to starting a relationship with her second.
That said, Draper said that right before Season 1 of “Mormon Wives” dropped on Hulu in September 2024, she was given “proof” that Ngatikaura had been using an escort service in Texas. At the time, she presented her evidence to him, she said, only to have him say it had probably been generated by AI.
Draper also said she had heard rumors of “sex parties” that he allegedly attended, though her sourcing on that allegation was definitely of the friend-of-a-friend-who-was-there variety. She further claimed that Ngatikaura had listened in on her personal conversations via cameras in her house — cameras she said he unplugged when he moved back into the house and she moved to a hotel — and had blackmailed her, threatening to post texts between her and Brunette online.
“Any time he was mad at me, he’s like, ‘I’m going to post them. I’m going to ruin your life,’” Draper told Cooper.
One day, she said, Ngatikaura told her he believed in traditional gender roles and that he should be in his masculine and she in her feminine, and therefore she should do Pilates every day. That led to a fight, during which he threatened to post the texts he had been keeping in a draft in his phone. Nobody knew yet what had happened between her and Brunette, and she worried that exposing everything would hurt her business, where she employs dozens of people.
“I went to go grab his phone. I was like, ‘Jordan, no … This could ruin everything.’ And he goes, ‘OK.’ And I’m freaking out. So, I’m trying to get his phone. I’m kind of chasing him, trying to get it. He pulls out his phone, starts recording me, and he’s like, ‘What are you going to do? What are you going to do? Are you going to be like, “Taylor, should I call the cops?”’ (referring to her embattled co-star and best friend, Taylor Frankie Paul, whose season of “The Bachelorette” was nixed before it aired).
“I was like, ‘Whoa,’ ‘cause he’s friends with Dakota [Mortenson, Paul’s on-and-off boyfriend], so he’s like hearing things like that, obviously, and he’s baiting me and he’s trying to be like, ‘Oh, oh, what are you doing?’ And that was the moment where, for me, I was like, ‘What am I doing? I am chasing around my husband trying to get his phone so he doesn’t blackmail me. This is not healthy.’ And I literally left him the next day,” she said.
In a week rife with drama involving “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” cast, two stars of the hit reality series appear to be going their separate ways officially.
Jessi Draper and Jordan Ngatikaura’s marriage is coming to an end after five years, with the latter filing for divorce in Utah, according to TMZ, which cited court documents. The estranged pair married in October 2020 and share two children. Ngatikaura is also the father to a teenage daughter from a previous relationship.
A representative for Draper did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. Ngatikaura, who also did not respond to The Times’ request for comment, issued a statement about his filing to TMZ and People.
He told the outlets his decision to divorce Draper “comes with a heavy heart” and said he is grateful for their time together. Ngatikaura plans to prioritize his children, “ensuring they feel loved, supported, and protected through this transition,” according to People. He said in his statement that he is seeking privacy for his family.
Before Ngatikaura’s divorce filing, the pair’s marital struggles had become public. In November, Draper broke her silence on allegations she had cheated on Ngatikaura and admitted to having an “emotional affair” with “Vanderpump Villa” star Marciano Brunette. At the time, Draper spoke to People about the “emotional abuse” she said she faced from her husband — he took “full accountability for the pain I caused Jessi” — and said, “We both made mistakes for sure.”
The spouses had agreed to a 90-day separation and to work things out together in therapy, People reported last year.
News of the “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” divorce comes as the franchise reckons with star Taylor Frankie Paul, who faces new allegations of domestic abuse against her on-again, off-again partner Dakota Mortensen. Paul, who was arrested and charged in 2023 for a separate dispute involving Mortensen, was tapped to lead the latest season of “The Bachelorette” set to premiere Sunday, but that all came to a screeching halt earlier this week.
As Utah’s Draper City Police Department confirmed it was investigating alleged incidents of domestic violence involving Paul and Mortensen, TMZ published video Thursday of Paul kicking and throwing chairs at Mortensen in a 2023 dispute while one of her children was in the same room. ABC, home network of “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette,” acted swiftly and pulled the plug on Paul’s upcoming season.
“In light of the newly released video just surfaced today, we have made the decision to not move forward with the new season of ‘The Bachelorette’ at this time, and our focus is on supporting the family,” Disney said in a statement Thursday.
“Taylor is very grateful for ABC’s support as she prioritizes her family’s safety and security,” read a portion of a statement provided by a representative for Paul. The statement went on to say Paul had suffered “extensive mental and physical abuse as well as threats of retaliation.”
Amid the fresh allegations, Paul has seen brand deals fall to the wayside and production on “Mormon Wives” pause pending a decision on her status as a cast member, according to a person briefed on the situation.
Times staff writer Yvonne Villarreal contributed to this report.
‘Like the Russian mafia’: L.A. judge elections see unusual drama
One judge claims his colleagues have adopted a “gangster mentality” in order to shut him up.
Another compared the state board accusing him of serious misconduct to “the Russian mafia.”
Judicial elections are usually sleepy affairs, subject to little political fanfare or interest. But two battles on the June ballot in Los Angeles have raised the temperature this campaign season and invited questions about the lengths members of the insular local bench will go to protect their own.
Lawyers who aspire to become judge often run for open seats. The challengers in these races, however, say they specifically targeted incumbents they believe are unfit for the office, which carries an annual salary of more than $244,000.
One of the contests could unseat 84-year-old Judge Robert Draper, who is seeking reelection despite having spent the last three years relegated to a room at the Santa Monica courthouse without a computer or caseload, which two other judges described to The Times as a “closet.”
In 2023, then-Presiding Justice Samantha Jessner said Draper was “unable to carry out the duties and responsibilities of a judge” due to deteriorating mental and physical health, according to a letter she sent to the state’s Commission on Judicial Performance.
Draper denied all wrongdoing in an interview with The Times, and said that although he has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, he remains fit for the bench. He has also been accused of sexual harassment and making improper and biased comments by the judicial commission. He is contesting those claims. A hearing that could result in his removal began Monday and is expected to last into early May.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Paul Thompson at Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
The other incumbent fighting to save his seat is Judge Pat Connolly, 61, a former prosecutor who has drawn support from several other sitting L.A. County judges. But his opponent, Deputy Dist. Atty. Paul Thompson, has called Connolly a “rogue judge” who needs to be replaced.
Connolly has been disciplined multiple times in his 18-year judicial tenure for improper comments toward litigants and, in one case, exhibiting bias against a defense attorney against whom he was weighing contempt charges, according to state judicial commission records.
Thompson, who gained notoriety for his role winning a rape conviction against Harvey Weinstein, purchased the rights to the domain name “patconnolly4judge.com,” which now redirects to one of the commission’s admonishments of Connolly.
“What I see is a man who repeatedly prioritizes his own goodwill over that of the community and the public he is serving … a man who has been repeatedly disciplined for prioritizing his own interests,” said Thompson, who has been endorsed by the L.A. County Democratic Party.
In a bizarre turn, the race was linked to the recent shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Assn. dinner after conservative influencers posted a picture of a Thompson campaign sign on the Torrance lawn of the suspected gunman, Cole Tomas Allen.
Thompson lives next door to the Allen family and described the suspect’s parents as great neighbors. He said he didn’t know their son and dismissed “internet trolls” for trying to tie his campaign to political violence.
This year’s election has sparked conversations about the unwavering support incumbent judges seem to enjoy among their colleagues.
Despite the concerns about Draper’s health, a political action committee run by fellow judges gave $72,500 to his campaign, state election finance records show. The PAC gave the same amount to Connolly.
Judge Maria Lucy Armendariz, who oversees the PAC, did not return a call seeking comment.
“The PAC has some explaining to do here. Why is there this show of support for someone who is facing so many challenges?” asked Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor who now teaches at Loyola Law School. “It doesn’t reflect well on the bench.”
Deputy Dist. Atty. Tal Khan Valbuena at Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Draper’s opponent is Deputy Dist. Atty. Tal Khan Valbuena, a refugee from Pakistan who works in the Hollywood mental health court. Khan Valbuena believes his lived experience as a gay Muslim who has faced bigotry will bring a compassionate perspective to a bench some complain is overrun with old-school tough-on-crime prosecutors.
But he also expressed concern about Draper’s mental decline after meeting him for lunch earlier this year.
“His honor had exemplified disorganized thought behavior, tangential thought … things I see on a day-to-day basis [in mental health court],” Khan Valbuena said, while acknowledging that he is not a doctor.
The Los Angeles County Bar Assn. issued its ratings for every judicial candidate last week. Connolly graded best among the judges in the contentious races, described as “well qualified.” Thompson and Khan Valubena were rated as “qualified.” Draper was one of only three candidates labeled “unqualified.”
In 2022, Judge Eric Taylor said he noticed a sharp change in Draper’s behavior that included sending “abusive” and “incoherent” e-mails to colleagues that contained racist and profane language, according to a letter Taylor sent to the state judicial commission.
“He has demonstrated a flagging handle on reality,” Taylor wrote.
Draper was accused of sexual harassment, making racist remarks and callous behavior all over the course of one hearing. According to the state judicial complaint and testimony at Draper’s removal hearing on Monday, the judge allegedly stroked a female lawyer’s hair after going on a tangent to a Black attorney about “Black history, Black football players, the Civil Rights Act, and the Black Lives Matter movement,” even though the case had nothing to do with those issues.
Judge Robert Draper outside the Ronald Reagan Federal Building in Los Angeles.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Later in chambers that same day, he made crude remarks to a group of female attorneys while reflecting on his time as a civil attorney, recalling how male lawyers would deride female secretaries, insisting they learn to “f— better than they could type,” according to testimony given by attorney Janice Brown at Draper’s hearing.
Brown told the review panel that Draper’s behavior left her “aghast” and “perplexed.”
Draper denied much of what was in the complaint. He says that he never touched a lawyer’s hair, and that the comments about Black culture were meant to express his pride at racial progress in America. He criticized the Commission on Judicial Performance.
“This is like the Russian mafia, it’s like Germany,” he said. “There’s no due process for any judge.”
Draper’s attorney, Ashley Posner, said his client would routinely walk up seven flights of stairs when he was assigned to the downtown Stanley Mosk courthouse and remains sharp.
“Things were set up to portray him in the worst light possible … he’s been portrayed as a bigot. He’s been portrayed as doddering and demented, which couldn’t be further from the truth,” Posner said.
In court on Monday, Posner suggested the complaint was part of a broader campaign to force Draper to retire and accused the L.A. County Superior Court’s leadership of ageism. A court spokesperson said they could not comment on personnel matters.
The race between Connolly and Thompson has also focused heavily on alleged misconduct.
Connolly’s past admonishments by the state commission include complaints that he yelled at attorneys for appearing remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. The judge also told a recently acquitted defendant that he knew the man was guilty, records show.
“I don’t think it’s as much what I’ve said as how I have said it. I think that they have taken issue with the terms that I’ve used,” Connolly said, noting he has never been accused of ethical violations or moral impropriety.
L.A. County Superior Court Judge Pat Connolly at the Compton Courthouse.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
A legal expert raised questions in 2023 about the propriety of Connolly seeking to disqualify a fellow judge from ruling on a petition to resentence a convicted cop killer that Connolly had prosecuted in the late 2000s. The state commission is also currently reviewing two additional complaints against Connolly, according to e-mails seen by The Times. Connolly said he couldn’t comment on either situation.
In an interview with The Times, Connolly said he was surprised by the “venom” Thompson had injected into the race.
He said he sees himself as a fair jurist with a knack for finding creative solutions to cases that balance public safety and alternatives to incarceration. In 2022, court records show, he negotiated a plea deal for an NFL player facing prison time for weapons charges, ordering him to organize sports camps for underprivileged youth.
“I’m one of those who listens to both sides, who gives both sides the opportunity to voice their positions,” he said.
Connolly enjoys the support of many sitting judges and law enforcement leaders, including former Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley and the head of the court’s criminal division, Ricardo Ocampo.
Thompson says some of Connolly’s allies on the bench have come after his supporters.
When Thompson launched his campaign, he published an endorsement from L.A. County Superior Court Judge Scott Yang on his campaign website. Within weeks, Thompson said, Yang asked him to take the endorsement down, claiming he was being pressured by other judges.
Yang, who presides over a court in the Antelope Valley, said his colleagues on the bench exhibited a “gangster mentality” when they told him to withdraw his endorsement in a judicial election, according to a text message reviewed by The Times.
“They were going to target him. They were going to run at him. They were potentially going to make false disciplinary reports around him,” Thompson said.
Connolly was not accused of being involved in the alleged harassment and declined to discuss the matter. Yang did not respond to multiple requests for comment. A court spokesperson said they had not received any reports of threats made against Yang, but a law enforcement source said Yang told them he was harassed by fellow judges over his endorsement of Thompson. The source spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals from the bench.
The conflict has generated whispers among L.A. County judges, one of whom requested anonymity due to concerns of backlash for speaking publicly. Word of the threats against Yang, the judge said, left some fearing they too could face retribution for breaking ranks.
“It’s totally concerning,” the judge said. “How different is that than the deputy gangs?”
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Jack Draper: Injury forces Briton to retire from first-round match at Barcelona Open
Britain’s Jack Draper had to retire in the third set of his first-round match against Tomas Martin Etcheverry at the Barcelona Open because of a knee injury.
Draper, playing his first match of the clay-court season, won the first set against Argentina’s Etcheverry 6-3 but began to have difficulty with his movement and lost the second set 6-3.
The 24-year-old received attention from a physio and had tape applied to an area below his right knee shortly before the deciding set started.
His serve was broken twice by Etcheverry in the third set and, after struggling to get around the court, he conceded the contest at 4-1 down.
Draper, ranked 28th in the world, has been cautious during a return from an arm injury and pulled out of the recent Monte Carlo Masters before the tournament.
He was absent for six months because of a bruised bone in his left serving arm, before returning to competitive action in February.
The Barcelona Open was Draper’s fourth event since he made his comeback.
Etcheverry said Draper is a “great competitor” and is keen to see him back on court again in the near future.
“I like how he plays – he’s a great fighter,” he said. “Hopefully he can recover as soon as he can to get back on tour because the tour likes him.”
Cameron Norrie, who replaced Draper as British number one last month, beat Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 to progress through his first-round tie.
Norrie served out for the match at 5-4 in the second set but let the 41-year-old back into the contest before he got himself back on track in the deciding set.
“I put myself in a winning position serving at a set and 5-4 up,” said Norrie, 30, who will play Ethan Quinn of the United States in the second round.
“I played a little tentatively in two shots and then I was very tight in the tie-break. I probably should have won it then, but credit to him. I played at a really good level in the third set.”
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Jessi Draper unloads about estranged hubby Jordan Ngatikaura
Escorts. Surveillance. Blackmail. Sex parties?
Jessi Draper of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” is accusing her estranged second husband, Jordan Ngatikaura, of being involved in pretty much all of the above.
Ngatikaura filed for divorce Thursday in Utah after five years of marriage to Draper. Though that was far from the start of their marital problems, she told Alex Cooper during Wednesday’s episode of “Call Her Daddy” — which was taped Friday — that the dissolution filing was something they had agreed to do together. Then he changed his mind, she said, and she got the news via TMZ.
“I’m the one who ended it. I told him on Friday the 13th, so not that long ago, and I just said I want a divorce. He definitely didn’t want it. And now he’s the one rushing to do it, which is a little strange,” Draper told Cooper.
Also strange, in her view, was his choice to state on the documents that she had had an affair, though they had agreed previously that the reason would be the tried-and-true and totally non-gossipy “irreconcilable differences.” Plus Draper had only kissed another man twice, she said. She never had a physical affair with Marciano Brunette of “Vanderpump Villa,” though their emotional affair was a big part of the third season of “Mormon Wives.” Also, Utah is a no-fault state when it comes to divorce.
The Times was unable to contact Ngatikaura on Wednesday for comment on Draper’s allegations.
During the chat, Draper called her estranged husband “calculated” and “emotionally abusive” and said he told her he had been advised by someone to file on his own. She also admitted to Cooper that their marriage most likely was what it was because she went too quickly from divorcing her first husband to starting a relationship with her second.
That said, Draper said that right before Season 1 of “Mormon Wives” dropped on Hulu in September 2024, she was given “proof” that Ngatikaura had been using an escort service in Texas. At the time, she presented her evidence to him, she said, only to have him say it had probably been generated by AI.
Draper also said she had heard rumors of “sex parties” that he allegedly attended, though her sourcing on that allegation was definitely of the friend-of-a-friend-who-was-there variety. She further claimed that Ngatikaura had listened in on her personal conversations via cameras in her house — cameras she said he unplugged when he moved back into the house and she moved to a hotel — and had blackmailed her, threatening to post texts between her and Brunette online.
“Any time he was mad at me, he’s like, ‘I’m going to post them. I’m going to ruin your life,’” Draper told Cooper.
One day, she said, Ngatikaura told her he believed in traditional gender roles and that he should be in his masculine and she in her feminine, and therefore she should do Pilates every day. That led to a fight, during which he threatened to post the texts he had been keeping in a draft in his phone. Nobody knew yet what had happened between her and Brunette, and she worried that exposing everything would hurt her business, where she employs dozens of people.
“I went to go grab his phone. I was like, ‘Jordan, no … This could ruin everything.’ And he goes, ‘OK.’ And I’m freaking out. So, I’m trying to get his phone. I’m kind of chasing him, trying to get it. He pulls out his phone, starts recording me, and he’s like, ‘What are you going to do? What are you going to do? Are you going to be like, “Taylor, should I call the cops?”’ (referring to her embattled co-star and best friend, Taylor Frankie Paul, whose season of “The Bachelorette” was nixed before it aired).
“I was like, ‘Whoa,’ ‘cause he’s friends with Dakota [Mortenson, Paul’s on-and-off boyfriend], so he’s like hearing things like that, obviously, and he’s baiting me and he’s trying to be like, ‘Oh, oh, what are you doing?’ And that was the moment where, for me, I was like, ‘What am I doing? I am chasing around my husband trying to get his phone so he doesn’t blackmail me. This is not healthy.’ And I literally left him the next day,” she said.
“I was like, this can’t happen anymore.”
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‘Mormon Wives’: Jessi Draper’s husband files for divorce
In a week rife with drama involving “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” cast, two stars of the hit reality series appear to be going their separate ways officially.
Jessi Draper and Jordan Ngatikaura’s marriage is coming to an end after five years, with the latter filing for divorce in Utah, according to TMZ, which cited court documents. The estranged pair married in October 2020 and share two children. Ngatikaura is also the father to a teenage daughter from a previous relationship.
A representative for Draper did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. Ngatikaura, who also did not respond to The Times’ request for comment, issued a statement about his filing to TMZ and People.
He told the outlets his decision to divorce Draper “comes with a heavy heart” and said he is grateful for their time together. Ngatikaura plans to prioritize his children, “ensuring they feel loved, supported, and protected through this transition,” according to People. He said in his statement that he is seeking privacy for his family.
Before Ngatikaura’s divorce filing, the pair’s marital struggles had become public. In November, Draper broke her silence on allegations she had cheated on Ngatikaura and admitted to having an “emotional affair” with “Vanderpump Villa” star Marciano Brunette. At the time, Draper spoke to People about the “emotional abuse” she said she faced from her husband — he took “full accountability for the pain I caused Jessi” — and said, “We both made mistakes for sure.”
The spouses had agreed to a 90-day separation and to work things out together in therapy, People reported last year.
News of the “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” divorce comes as the franchise reckons with star Taylor Frankie Paul, who faces new allegations of domestic abuse against her on-again, off-again partner Dakota Mortensen. Paul, who was arrested and charged in 2023 for a separate dispute involving Mortensen, was tapped to lead the latest season of “The Bachelorette” set to premiere Sunday, but that all came to a screeching halt earlier this week.
As Utah’s Draper City Police Department confirmed it was investigating alleged incidents of domestic violence involving Paul and Mortensen, TMZ published video Thursday of Paul kicking and throwing chairs at Mortensen in a 2023 dispute while one of her children was in the same room. ABC, home network of “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette,” acted swiftly and pulled the plug on Paul’s upcoming season.
“In light of the newly released video just surfaced today, we have made the decision to not move forward with the new season of ‘The Bachelorette’ at this time, and our focus is on supporting the family,” Disney said in a statement Thursday.
“Taylor is very grateful for ABC’s support as she prioritizes her family’s safety and security,” read a portion of a statement provided by a representative for Paul. The statement went on to say Paul had suffered “extensive mental and physical abuse as well as threats of retaliation.”
Amid the fresh allegations, Paul has seen brand deals fall to the wayside and production on “Mormon Wives” pause pending a decision on her status as a cast member, according to a person briefed on the situation.
Times staff writer Yvonne Villarreal contributed to this report.
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