Harry L. Hupp, 74; Judge Changed Treatment of Homeless Drunks in L.A.

U.S. District Court Judge Harry L. Hupp, a popular and scholarly jurist who reformed the way homeless drunks were treated by Los Angeles police a quarter of a century ago, died late Tuesday after suffering a massive stroke at his home. He was 74.

It was while serving as a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge that Hupp issued what may have been his most memorable decision. Robert Sundance, a Sioux Indian who had been arrested for public drunkenness on skid row hundreds of times, sued the city and county, demanding better treatment.

The long-standing police practice had been to arrest public inebriates, transport them to jail in so-called B-wagons -- vans with enclosed steel compartments -- and hold them in large cells called drunk tanks. When they sobered up, they were put out on the street and the cycle repeated itself

After an eight-week trial, Hupp ruled that public drunks on skid row should be treated the same as anyone else arrested for a misdemeanor.

Describing alcoholism as a disease, he ordered that those arrested for drunkenness should receive a medical screening within an hour of being taken into custody. He insisted that they be given beds and receive decent food. And he directed that the B-wagons be padded and carry no more than 10 people at a time.

In 1983, Hupp ruled in a class action lawsuit that Los Angeles police had been violating the civil rights of arrestees by holding them longer than the law permitted before bringing them to court. He ordered police to provide criminal suspects daily showers and shaves, reading materials and recreation facilities and to lift a ban on jail visits.

The following year, he presided over 100 hours of difficult negotiations to help settle another civil rights lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department, the outgrowth of illegal spying on citizens by the LAPD’s Public Disorder and Intelligence Division.

Hupp, who was named to the Superior Court by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan in 1972, was appointed to the U.S. District Court bench by then-President Reagan in 1984. Like Reagan, he was a Republican.

Chief U.S. District Court Judge Consuelo B. Marshall said Wednesday that Hupp was widely regarded as a “calming influence” whose easygoing manner was appreciated by almost everyone who appeared before him in court.

Respected as a legal scholar, she said, Hupp was a valuable resource for new judges. He also was the first to volunteer if another jurist was overloaded or during a staffing emergency. This despite the fact that Hupp had been in frail health and was on senior status, which allowed him to handle a minimum caseload.

“He was a person who was just liked by everyone,” Marshall said.

A California native, Hupp attended Beverly Hills High School, served in the California National Guard from 1950 to 1952, and received his bachelor’s and law degrees from Stanford University. He practiced law at the firm of Beardsley, Hufstedler & Kemble until he was appointed to the Superior Court.

He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Patricia Hupp, a sculptor; four children; two grandchildren; and two sisters. Funeral arrangements were pending.