Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> StandDown Texas Project

Criminal Law

: StandDown Texas Project

Second Thoughts of a 'Hanging Judge'

By Steve Hall

That's the title of an OpEd in today's Los Angeles Times, subtitled, "A death sentence in California rarely leads to an execution. Let's stop the charade."  It's by Donald A. McCartin, a retired California Superior Court judge. In 1978, the first time Jerry Brown was governor of California, he appointed me to a judgeship in the Superior Court of Orange County. It was a gutsy move on his part, a liberal Democrat naming a right-wing Republican to the bench. I served there until 1993, after which I sat on assignment on death cases throughout California. During that time, I presided over 10 murder cases in which I sentenced the convicted men to die. As a result, I became known as "the hanging judge of Orange County," an appellation that, I will confess, I accepted with some pride...continue to full post

Full post as published by StandDown Texas Project on March 25, 2011 (boomark / email).