Judge Removes Himself From Night Stalker Case

The judge scheduled to preside over the trial of alleged Night Stalker serial murderer Richard Ramirez removed himself from the case Monday and the case was assigned to another judge.

Superior Court Judge Dion Morrow said he had no choice but to sustain the legal challenge of Deputy Dist. Atty. Philip Halpin, and Ramirez’s case was reassigned to Superior Court Judge Michael Tynan.

Halpin, who filed the motion last week, said at the time that he did not doubt Morrow’s ability to handle the case fairly. Rather, he said, he was concerned that Morrow’s crowded docket would lead to continued delays. The trial is tentatively set to begin Dec. 2.

Each side in a criminal case is normally entitled to one peremptory challenge of a judge; no reason for the challenge need be given. Usually the challenge comes soon after the judge has been assigned and before the pretrial hearings have begun.

Morrow excluded from the transfer the defense’s motion for a change of venue. Lawyers for Ramirez have argued that massive pretrial publicity makes it unlikely that their client can receive a fair trial in Los Angeles. Hearings on that motion are scheduled to continue in Morrow’s courtroom Nov. 26.

Ramirez, 26, is accused of 14 murders and 31 other felonies in the series of nighttime break-ins and attacks that terrorized much of the Los Angeles area during the summer of 1985.

Defense attorneys Arturo Hernandez and Daniel Hernandez, who are not related, argued against the move out of Morrow’s courtroom. They cited Halpin’s statements to the press last week that his challenge was an “attempt to expedite” the case.

“He perjured himself,” Arturo Hernandez said of Halpin. “He had no good-faith belief that . . . Judge Morrow was prejudiced against him and the state of California.”

Morrow rejected that argument, saying Halpin’s motives in filing the peremptory challenge are irrelevant.