Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals has been the focus of 57 disqualification requests from prosecutors since February 2014. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
By Christopher Goffard
March 13, 2015
For years, Thomas Goethals has weighed the fates of some of Orange County’s most violent criminals. But since the judge began presiding over heated hearings probing the misuse of jailhouse informants, dozens of prosecutors have steered criminal cases away from his courtroom.