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Facing a formal investigation from the California Commission on Judicial Performance, Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Gregory Kreis now has until the end of the month to submit a response to the inquiry’s 19 allegations of misconduct.

The original deadline to reply to the commission’s Notice of Formal Proceedings was this upcoming Thursday, Feb. 22. But in an email to the Outpost, Kreis’s San Francisco-based attorney, James A. Murphy, said he requested and was granted an extension to Feb. 29, which is just five days before Primary Election Day. 

Kreis, who was appointed to the bench by former California Gov. Jerry Brown in May 2017, is seeking re-election against challenger April Van Dyke and recently announced write-in candidate Jessica Watson.

The 19 allegations of judicial misconduct against Kreis include drug and alcohol use, antisemitism, inappropriate sexual behavior, prejudicial administration of justice and making false or misleading declarations in court proceedings.

Since news of the investigation first broke, the story has gone national, with coverage from CBS News, Rolling Stone magazine, the Guardian, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat and other outlets. 

Kreis has called the allegations against him “salacious and false.”