The Region - News from Dec. 4, 1985

A Los Angeles attorney, who became well known for his role in a landmark California Supreme Court decision in 1978, pleaded guilty in federal court to one charge of failing to pay federal income taxes in 1979. Edward I. Gritz was charged with five counts of willful failure to pay more than $35,000 in income taxes for the years 1979 to 83. He agreed to plead guilty to the one count if federal authorities would drop the other counts against him, Assistant U.S. Atty. James R. Asperger said. Gritz was the attorney for James Michael Wheeler, whose 1978 murder conviction was overturned by the state Supreme Court. Gritz successfully argued before the high court that lawyers cannot exclude prospective jurors at a trial strictly because of race, sex, religion or other group bias. The decision established a rule governing jury selections in state courts.