Judge Morris Jacobson, Alameda County Superior Court. Photo: Shelley Eades

Updated at 5:12 p.m.

A state judicial disciplinary panel on Thursday admonished an Alameda County judge for hitting an attorney's hand in a 2011 incident with enough "inadvertent" force to leave a mark.

Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson was also chastised by the Commission on Judicial Performance for using "crude and inappropriate" language with a court administrator in 2016 to describe the alleged sexual misconduct of a Texas judge.

"No attorney should fear being hit by the judge, whose duty it is to maintain a courtroom free of such conduct by any of the participants," the commission wrote in its decision, released Thursday. "Judges have at their disposal many tools for carrying out their judicial duties; hitting an attorney's hand is unequivocally not among them."

Jacobson and his attorney, Edith Matthai of Robie & Matthai, said in a statement that the judge agreed to the language in the stipulation.

"As his counsel, I was surprised by the commission's order, which elevates the incident to an intentional assault," Matthai said. "Neither Judge Jacobson nor I believe it is appropriate to assault anyone. As his counsel I can say that the stipulated language was not intended to convey that there was an assault."

Asked why the Commission on Judicial Performance is now disciplining Jacobson for events that occurred eight and almost four years ago, Gregory Dresser, the commission's director and chief counsel, said that "speaking generally, the commission sometimes receives reports of misconduct years after the misconduct occurred."

Jacobson, appointed to the bench by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2005, was previously disciplined twice by the commission.

In 2012 he was publicly admonished for forcing an attorney he was unhappy with to remain in his courtroom for an hour and a half. In 2010 he received an advisory letter after he ordered an attorney to his courtroom, chastised him for a perceived ex parte communication, told him to stay in the courtroom while another attorney was called, and then conducted an uncalendared hearing.

In the new disciplinary matter, the commission said that after a sharp exchange with a public defender during a 2011 arraignment, Jacobson called the attorney to his bench to apologize. She placed her hand on the bench and the judge then "hit her hand, and inadvertently used enough force to leave a visible impression."

The commission's decision does not explain why Jacobson hit the public defender's hand in the act of apologizing.

In 2016, while Jacobson was serving as presiding judge, the commission said he used "crude and inappropriate" language with a court administrator to describe the case of a Texas judge charged with coercing women probationers into having sex with him in exchange for leniency in court.

"The commission notes that, while judges can, and sometimes must, discuss sensitive case-related facts with court personnel, it is improper to use crude and inappropriate language when doing so," the commission wrote. "In this instance, Judge Jacobson's conversation with the court administrator did not pertain to a case before him. Judge Jacobson's use of crude and inappropriate language constituted, at a minimum, improper action."

Jacobson stipulated to the allegations and consented to the public admonishment in documents signed Dec. 10.

Nine commissioners voted to publicly admonish the judge. Commissioners Anthony Capozzi and Sarah Kruer Jager voted to reject the stipulation because it did not contain the specific "crude and inappropriate" language Jacobson used with the court administrator.

This report was updated to include comment from the judge's lawyer.