News briefs from California's Central Coast

The Associated Press

SANTA BARBARA – The judge in the Sylvia Jovanna Vasquez child abuse case was replaced because the jurist helped edit the prosecutor's novel.

The supervising criminal judge decided Tuesday to follow the suggestions of the state Court of Appeal and remove Superior Court Judge George Eskin from the case. Superior Court Judge Frank Ochoa will now preside over the Vasquez case.

In asking for Eskin's removal, defense attorney Robert Sanger questioned whether the judge could be impartial after editing Senior Deputy District Attorney Joyce Dudley's self-published book, “Intoxicating Agent.”

Last week, The 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled the case could no longer proceed under Judge Eskin and suggested transferring it to another judge.

“The court has ... taken to heart the suggestion made by the Court of Appeal. Therefore, this court will order the case transferred,” Superior Court Judge Brian Hill said Tuesday.

Vasquez is awaiting trial on felony counts alleging she abused her four adopted children – ages 6, 9, 12 and 13. Some of them were allegedly locked up in cagelike enclosures or living in squalid conditions inside the former day care provider's Foothill Road home.

She is also accused of injecting the 12-year-old girl with the puberty-blocking drug Lupron and detectives allegedly found a digital camera in Vasquez's room with lewd photos of the girl, according to court documents.

Vasquez, who was arrested Jan. 6, is free on $1 million bail and no trial date has been set. Her children are in care of Santa Barbara County Child Welfare Services.