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'Lance Allan Ito' (born August 2, 1950 in Los Angeles, California) is a Japanese-American Los Angeles County Superior Court judge, best known for his role in the O. J. Simpson murder trial. He currently hears felony criminal cases at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center. He is a resident of Pasadena.

Contents

Early life and career

Charles H. Keating Jr.'s trial

O.J. Simpson's murder trial

Current career

References

Early life and career

Ito was born to two Japanese-American parents, Jim and Toshi Ito. As children, both had been kept in Japanese American internment camps with their families during World War II. Ito attended John Marshall High School, where he was at one point class president. He earned his Bachelors Degree with honors from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1972, and his J.D. degree from the University of California, Berkeley's Boalt Hall in 1975. He then joined the Los Angeles district attorney's office in 1977.^[1]
In 1981, he married Margaret Ann York, at one time the highest ranking woman in the Los Angeles Police Department.^[2]

Charles H. Keating Jr.'s trial

In 1992, he presided over Charles H. Keating Jr.'s trial in the Savings and Loan scandal; Keating's 10-year sentence was later overturned on appeal because Ito had neglected to instruct the jury to determine whether Keating ''intended'' to defraud investors. It was the prosecution's position that Keating was liable as a matter of strict liability.^[3]

O.J. Simpson's murder trial

Ito became familiar to American television viewers when he presided over the 1995 murder trial of O.J. Simpson at which Simpson was acquitted.
Some judges disliked Ito's handling of the Simpson case because they felt he allowed his courtroom to be turned into part of the media circus; however, Ito and others present in the courtroom dispute this characterization, challenging critics to identify a proceeding that was not under control. Because the jury was sequestered, an attorney gag order would not have been supported by any appellate court, leading to often chaotic scenes outside the courthouse. Ito was the subject of parody with comedian Jay Leno's "Dancing Itos" a regular part of ''The Tonight Show'' during the Simpson trial and has remained regular fodder for crossword puzzles.^[4]

Current career

Ito continues to hold office as a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge. He is regarded as an expert in the area of the use of spoken-language interpreters in courtroom proceedings and regularly teaches at the Judicial College of California.

References

1. "Ito's Fairness Doctrine", Mike Tharp, ''U.S. News'', October 23, 1994
2. The Week, ''Time'', August 28, 1995
3. "Charlie's An Angel?", Adam Zagorin, ''Time'', February 3, 1997
4. "Clued in to joy of short names with vowels", Jean Gonick, ''San Francisco Chronicle'', November 11, 2006