Darlene Schempp Had Long Climb to the Bench : New Judge Plunges Into Controversy

Every seat in the courtroom was taken. Off-duty district attorneys, dozens of the defendant’s friends and curious court watchers were waiting to see how the new judge would rule.

The facts of the case were not in dispute: After a violent argument in 1981, 33-year-old Alice Wallace of Panorama City killed her husband when the .25-caliber pistol she was holding fired.

A Van Nuys jury in February found Wallace guilty of involuntary manslaughter, a crime that carries a maximum term of five years in state prison. Now, it was up to Superior Court Judge Darlene Schempp to decide what punishment Wallace deserved.

Calling Wallace’s husband “obsessed with unfounded suspicion and jealousy,” Schempp placed the defendant on three years’ probation and fined her $1,000.

‘Invitation to . . . Murder’

The district attorney denounced Schempp’s no-prison sentence as an “invitation to commit murder.”

The decision, handed down March 8, was one that Schempp had mulled over for weeks. The fact that the defendant was the sister-in-law of Los Angeles City Councilman Robert Farrell did not make the decision any easier.

But Schempp, who was appointed a criminal court judge only two days before the Wallace trial began, said she welcomed the controversy that surrounded the case.

Her husband of seven years, bank loan officer James McNair, did not.

“He read the papers the next day and said, ‘Thank God, you don’t use my name!’ But I never lost a moment’s sleep over that decision, or any decision. The job teaches you not to second-guess.”

Darlene Schempp has had a lot of time to think about her decision to become a judge.

A lover of vintage Porsches and skiing, Schempp, who is in her mid-50s, cuts an unusual mold for a judge.

When she enrolled in law school, she was in her late 30s.

Before being appointed by Gov. George Deukmejian in June as a Superior Court judge, she had worked for the county almost three decades--first as a legal secretary, then as a court clerk and finally as a commissioner.

She may be the only judge in Los Angeles County who has moved from sitting in front of the bench--answering telephones, typing court minutes--to sitting behind it, handing out sentences.

Enrolled as a Lark

In 1966, while she was a court clerk during the day, she enrolled in the night school program of the University of San Fernando Law School as a lark.

“I really wasn’t planning to become a lawyer,” she said in an interview. “I just thought that the education would interesting.”

She soon changed her mind. After passing the Bar exam in 1970, she took a job as a prosecutor with the district attorney’s office.

Her first assignment was prosecuting an alleged drunk driver represented by well-known Glendale attorney Robert Clark, who specializes in such cases.

Although she lost that case, Clark remembers Schempp as “someone who was really willing to dig, push and get a conviction. She was a good young lawyer.”

‘One Tough Lady’

Her former boss, retired Deputy Dist. Atty. Alex Kahanowicz, recalls that Schempp was “one tough lady.”

Kahanowicz said that because Schempp knows the court system inside and out, she can push for what she believes.

“She never took the easy path. She’s been in the trenches and realizes the value of coming through the ranks,” he said.

Born in Portland, the daughter of a homemaker and a lumberjack, Schempp and her family came to Los Angeles during the Depression, when she was 3.

At Hollywood High School, her classmates included Stewart Whitman and Mitzi Gaynor. After graduating, she went to Los Angeles City College and studied to be a legal secretary. She worked for 10 years as a secretary for the county public defender’s office.

When Schempp sought to become an investigator for the office, she was told the job was not suited for a woman. She promptly quit to become a court clerk. Her first assignment was to Superior Court Judge Donald Wright, who went on to become chief justice of California.

After working as a prosecutor for seven years, she was elected by the county Superior Court judges to be a commissioner and was assigned to domestic relations court.

The assignment raised eyebrows because Schempp had never been married and had no children.

“Frankly, I was surprised with the assignment, “ she said.

On several occasions, Schempp gave jail terms to divorced spouses who refused to pay court-ordered child-support payments.

“I did it to terrify them into complying with the court,” she said. “If they had the ability to pay and ignored the court order, they needed a lesson.”

Memorable Case

Schempp recalls one case when she was a commissioner in which a man brought suit to gain permanent custody of his young son.

There was nothing unusual about the case until the man’s wife surprised everyone in the courtroom by claiming that her husband was not the boy’s natural father--even though he was listed as the father on the boy’s birth certificate.

The man challenged the assertion, offering to take a blood test. The results proved the wife’s claim.

Despite that, Schempp ruled that the boy should go to the man rather than to his natural mother. “I could see in this man, even though he turned out not to be a blood relative, that he really was the one who loved the child,” she said.

Because Schempp is a lifelong Republican, many thought that as a judge she would be a strong advocate of tough sentencing and long prison terms.

Defies Political Labeling

But the decision to spare Alice Wallace--the woman who admitted killing her husband--a prison term seems to indicate that Schempp defies political labeling.

“I was mindful of the people there,” she said, referring to the packed courtroom. “The defendant had a large rooting gallery, but my mind was made up before going into the court.

“Jail would have served no purpose. It would have caused many problems for her two children. If I put her in jail, her children wouldn’t have had any parent.”

Schempp conceded that the decision was the most difficult she has made as a commissioner or judge. And it continues to cause waves.

Prosecutor Rabichow said last week: “I still think her decision was terrible. It intensifies the possibility that people will commit murder of their spouses if you take away fear of incarceration.”

‘Courageous Decision’

Wallace’s attorney, Leslie Abramson, disagreed, saying: “She has a good gut. It was a courageous decision. She has a very strong sense of what is right and wrong.”

Part of the reason for Schempp’s tenacity stems from her career with the county, Abramson said. “She has seen the system from all sides and it shows. She does what she thinks is right, and she forgets about anything else. She’s a pro from the system, and it shows.”

Schempp’s court clerk, Glenn Covey, says the judge’s long road to her current position is not only an asset for Schempp, but also for him.

“She’s sat where I’m sitting now. She knows all the lines I hear, all the frustrations I feel. She understands.”