Lance Ito - Definition and Overview

Lance A. Ito (born August 2, 1950) is a Los Angeles Superior Court judge who hears felony criminal cases at the county courthouse in downtown Los Angeles, California.

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.

Ito became familiar to American television viewers when he presided over the 1995 murder trial of O. J. Simpson at which Simpson was acquitted. Many judges disliked Ito's handling of the Simpson case because he allowed his courtroom to be turned into part of the media circus. This is why since then, judges overseeing high-profile trials have forbidden videotaping of the trial proceedings.

He earned his J.D. degree from the University of California, Berkeley's Boalt Hall in 1975. In 1981, he married Margaret Anne York, the highest ranking woman in the Los Angeles Police Department.

See also

• List of Japanese Americans, Al D'Amato