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By Mark Miller
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He said nothing improper, nothing sensational and only a little that was revealing about himself. But Judge Lance Ito has made a personal crusade of lambasting irresponsible press coverage of the O. J. Simpson case, so it seemed a little odd that he agreed to be interviewed for a five-part personality profile on KCBS-TV. Ito later said he wouldn't have submitted to the interview if he had known KCBS was going to publicize it so heavily. But given the media frenzy surrounding the trial, that sounded naive and disingenuous -- a thin excuse for seeking out a little nonjudicial celebrity. Reporters covering the case began snickering about ""Judge Ego.''
Chosen for the Simpson case because of his reputation for unflappable discretion and fair-mindedness, Ito has revealed himself as the most flamboyant personality in the courtroom. He dominates the lawyers, banters with prospective jurors and seems to relish the presence of the television cameras. To buttress his complaints about irresponsible media coverage of the Simpson case, the judge posed with 21 cartons of letters from the public saying he should ban cameras from the courtroom -- the kind of gesture any showman would appreciate.
A third-generation Japanese-American whose parents were interned in a Wyoming detention camp during World War II, Ito went to UCLA and Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law. He became an assistant district attorney in Los Angeles County in 1977, volunteering for a hard-charging prosecutorial team assigned to gang-related crimes. The team racked up an impressive conviction rate, and Ito, a tireless worker, went on to bigger things. He was appointed to the bench in 1987 and promoted to Superior Court in 1989. In 1992, after presiding at the trial of megabucks savings-and-loan swindler Charles Keating, Ito was named Trial Judge of the Year by the Los Angeles County Bar Association.
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Those who know him well say Ito's stern judicial bearing conceals a mischievous sense of humor. San Diego lawyer Robert D. Rose, who went to UCLA with Ito in the 1970s, remembers Ito running through the dorm yelling ""Banzai!'' on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day -- wearing nothing but an antique leather flying helmet. Deputy district attorney Peter S. Berman says Ito is a relentless prankster who livened up the L.A. prosecutors' long hours with practical jokes. ""You could come in and find all your furniture going up and down repeatedly on the freight elevator. It's funny but immature -- it was the kind of stuff we did just to alleviate the stress of dealing with the murderers of children every day,'' Berman says.
But friends also say Ito, 44, has never forgotten the Japanese-American internment, and that his parents' humiliation during that time helps explain both his fairness as a judge and his fierce drive to succeed. ""One of the reasons I try to do as good a job as I can [is that] I don't want to cause problems for my parents,'' Ito told KCBS. ""There have been some of the pundits who have said things that have been critical of my performance in some high-profile cases, and naturally, that wounds my parents very deeply.''
The scrutiny of his performance will intensify in the weeks ahead. Ito must soon rule on the admissibility of DNA testing on blood samples that are crucial to the prosecution's case. Simpson's defense team, meanwhile, has demanded a hearing on the question of whether Ito's wife, Los Angeles Police Capt. Margaret York, should be called to testify about Detective Mark Fuhrman, the investigator who found the famous bloody glove outside Simpson's mansion.
Fuhrman, who has a history of career problems dating to the early 1980s, reportedly was among a group of cops in the LAPD's West L.A. division who were investigated by the department for forming an antifeminist group called Men Against Women. York was watch commander in the West L.A. station house during the final phases of that investigation, and the defense wants to know what she knows about Fuhrman. If she was involved in the probe, the defense will try to call her as a witness at Simpson's trial. That would put Ito in an excruciating position and could force him to step aside -- though defense sources insisted last week that they were not trying to force him off the case.
The gambit may be desperate, but it is part of an overall defense strategy to put the LAPD on trial. It could also be an attempt to shake Ito's composure and force him into judicial error. The Simpson case is already shaping up as a courtroom brawl of unparalleled ferocity -- and Judge Ito, ready or not, is on trial as well.
PHOTO: In the spotlight: Ito and his wife, LAPD Capt. Margaret York
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