Judge Real Loses Appeal in Settles Case

A federal judge accused of bias in a slander case stemming from the death of a California college football star who was in police custody lost a Supreme Court appeal today.

The justices, without comment, barred U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real from rehearing part of the case in which he previously imposed a $250,000 fine against a lawyer who represented the police.

The much-publicized case began with the June 2, 1981, death in Signal Hill, Calif., of Reginald Ronell Settles, a football star at California State University, Long Beach.

Police said Settles committed suicide in his cell, an hour after he was arrested and scuffled with police, by hanging himself from a mattress cover that had been looped over the cell’s doorjamb.

Settles’ family said they believed that he was killed by a chokehold applied by the police.

Coroner’s Jury Verdict

A coroner’s jury in Los Angeles County concluded, by a 5-4 vote, that Settles’ death was suicide.

The Settles family later arranged for a second autopsy conducted by Dr. Sidney Weinberg, the medical examiner of Suffolk County, N.Y., and Dr. Michael Baden, Weinberg’s deputy.

The second autopsy’s results were discussed at a June 26, 1982, news conference, during which Weinberg and Baden said they believed that the evidence pointed to death by strangling.

Jerry Brown and Gerry Fleischer, the police officers who had arrested and subdued Settles, sued Weinberg and Baden, charging them with slander.

Lawyer Stephen Yagman represented the police officers.

For nearly two years, the pretrial developments in the case were presided over by U.S. District Judge Lawrence T. Lydick.

Transferred to Real

But six days before the trial began, the suit was transferred to Real, the chief judge of the federal court in California’s central district.

Real dismissed the suit after a three-day trial, and then fined Yagman $250,000 for alleged misconduct.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in August, 1986, upheld Real’s ruling and threw out the slander charges. But the appeals court set aside the judge’s decision imposing sanctions against Yagman and ordered a new hearing before a different judge.

The appeals court noted that there was speculation that Real was prejudicied against Yagman because the lawyer planned to testify against the judicial nomination of a friend of Real.

The appeals court said it found no evidence that the allegation was accurate and it said it did not believe that Real acted unfairly or out of bias against the lawyer.