Stanley Weisberg
{{Short description|American judge (born 1943)}}
Stanley Martin Weisberg{{Cite web|url=https://www.martindale.com/san-francisco/california/stanley-martin-weisberg-149732-a/|title=Stanley Martin Weisberg Judge Profile on Martindale.com|website=www.martindale.com}} (born October 12, 1943)[https://www.californiabirthindex.org/birth/stanley_martin_weisberg_born_1943_2739014 California Birth Index]. is a former prosecutor and Los Angeles County Superior Court judge known for presiding over trials of the police officers charged with the beating of Rodney King and of brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez in the trial for the murder of their parents. In several cases, he made controversial rulings that were subject to criticism.
Early life, education and career
Born in East Los Angeles, Weisberg's father was a sheet metal worker.{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-11-23-me-226-story.html|title=2nd McMartin Trial Judge to Hear King Case : Courts: Stanley Weisberg is a veteran of high-profile proceedings. He names Orange, Ventura and Alameda counties as possible new venues.|first=Richard A.|last=Serrano|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=November 23, 1991}} Weisberg attended Alexander Hamilton High School in Los Angeles, from which he graduated in 1961, and received a B.A. in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1965, followed by a J.D. from UCLA School of Law in 1968.{{cite web|url=http://www.metnews.com/articles/2008/weis020708.htm|title=Superior Court Judge Stanley M. Weisberg to Retire|publisher=Metropolitan News-Enterprise|date=February 7, 2008}} From 1968 and 1986, Weisberg served as a deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County. During this period, he handled a series of prominent cases, such as the prosecution of Marvin Pancoast for the murder of Vicki Morgan and of Ricky Kyle for the murder of his millionaire father.
Judicial service
In 1986, California Governor George Deukmejian appointed Weisberg to the municipal court of Los Angeles County. In 1988, Deukmejian elevated Weisberg to the Superior Court. One of Weisberg's first cases there was the McMartin preschool trial, where operators of a preschool in Manhattan Beach, California were charged with numerous acts of sexual abuse of children in their care. Weisberg reported that District Attorney Ira Reiner improperly tried to contact Weisberg to discuss a media report of the trial, but Weisberg refused to return Reiner's call.{{cite web|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/05/21/DA-allegedly-tried-to-contact-McMartin-judge/2128643262400/|title=D.A. allegedly tried to contact McMartin judge|first=Michael D.|last=Harris|publisher=UPI|date=May 21, 1990}} The contact became an issue during Reiner's unsuccessful campaign for the office of California Attorney General. In 1990, Weisberg declared a mistrial in the McMartin case, after jurors were unable to reach a verdict.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1990/07/28/mcmartin-prosecution-halted-ending-longest-criminal-case/c58c5801-a61b-4bcb-b1de-c32db30b2dc1/|title=McMartin Prosecution Halted, Ending Longest Criminal Case|first=Jay|last=Mathews|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=July 28, 1990}}
Weisberg also presided over the murder trials of Hare Krishna member Thomas Drescher, who had murdered a critic of the sect, and of Los Angeles police officer-turned contract killer William Leasure. Weisberg was assigned the Rodney King beating case in 1991.Frankie Y. Bailey, Steven Chermak, Crimes and Trials of the Century (2007), p. 145. Among the rulings Weisberg made in that case was a decision barring the attorneys from holding news conferences, which some observers assert "led inevitably to misleading media coverage of the case".Frankie Y. Bailey, Steven Chermak, Crimes and Trials of the Century (2007), p. 147. Weisberg also decided to locate the trial in Simi Valley, which in turn dictated the mostly white socioeconomic makeup of the jury pool which would decide the case.Arnold M Howitt, Herman B Leonard, David Giles, Managing Crises (2009), p. 146. The case ended with the acquittal of the officers charged with beating King,{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/abcarian/la-me-abcarian-simi-valley-20170507-story.html|title=An aggravating anniversary for Simi Valley, where a not-guilty verdict sparked the '92 L.A. riots|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|first=Robin |last=Abcarian|date= May 7, 2017|access-date=7 May 2017}} prompting the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
Weisberg was assigned to preside over the trial of the Menendez brothers in 1993 and presided over two trials of their case, the first having ended in a hung jury. The two Menendez brothers trials "engendered a running debate" over Weisberg's conduct as trial judge "and the influence that television may, or may not, have had on his rulings".Marjorie Cohn, David Dow, Cameras in the Courtroom: Television and the Pursuit of Justice (2002), p. 71. Weisberg allowed cameras in the courtroom for the first trial but barred them from the second, where he also disallowed many defense motions that he had allowed in the first trial. The trial gained national attention and Weisberg himself was parodied on Saturday Night Live, where he was portrayed by Phil Hartman.{{cite web|url=http://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/g12100601/leslie-abramson-menendez-brothers-attorney-facts-today/?src=socialflowTW|title=12 Things You Should Know About Leslie Abramson, the Menendez Brothers' Attorney|first=Sam|last=Dangremond|publisher=Town & Country|date=August 31, 2017}} The Menendez brothers were convicted in the second trial and on July 2, 1996, Weisberg sentenced the two to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Weisberg retired from the judgeship in 2008. In the 2017 Law & Order True Crime depiction of the Menendez brothers trial, Weisberg was portrayed by Anthony Edwards.{{cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2017/06/law-order-true-crime-the-menendez-murders-anthony-edwards-cast-judge-stanley-weisberg-1202106659/|title='Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders': Anthony Edwards To Play Judge Weisberg|work=Deadline Hollywood|date=June 2, 2017|first=Nellie|last=Andreeva}} In Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story (2024), he was potrayed by Ross Mackenzie.{{Cite web |title=ROSS MACKENZIE - Resume {{!}} Actors Access |url=https://resumes.actorsaccess.com/106213-362128 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250211041928/https://resumes.actorsaccess.com/106213-362128 |archive-date=2025-02-11 |access-date=2025-02-11 |website=resumes.actorsaccess.com}}
References
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Category:20th-century American judges
Category:21st-century American judges
Category:California state court judges
Category:District attorneys in California
Category:UCLA School of Law alumni