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U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie dies at 79

By Jason Siegel

U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie died of cancer last Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times reported. He was 79.

Rafeedie called himself "the only carny to get to the federal courts," the Times reported. After fighting in the Korean War, Rafeedie followed a carnival friend who was studying law and applied to USC.

In 1971, then-Gov. Ronald Reagan appointed Rafeedie to Los Angeles Superior Court, where he heard the celebrity cases of Groucho Marx, Rod Stewart and Evel Knievel, the Associated Press reported.

In 1982, President Reagan appointed Rafeedie to U.S. District Court, where he heard the torture-murder case of a Drug Enforcement Administration agent and controversially ruled that the kidnapping of a suspect violated a U.S.-Mexico extradition treaty.  He also presided over the plea agreement of a Beverly Hills doctor who's cooperation led to the criminal investigation of the firm now known as Milberg Weiss, according to the AP.

 Services are Thursday at 10 a.m. at St. Monica Catholic Church, 725 California Ave., Santa Monica. Send donations to the City of Hope, 1055 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90017.

Los Angeles Times Obituary
Associated Press Obituary

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on March 31, 2008 (boomark / email).