Judge Operates Without ‘Fear or Favor’

Although considered a tough-minded conservative, those who know U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson were not surprised Thursday by his ruling to throw out provisions of a 1952 immigration law used by the government to deport aliens if they advocate world communism.

“He calls a spade a spade,” said civil rights attorney Steven Yagman, who has had his share of run-ins with judges in the Los Angeles Federal Courthouse. “He never makes a decision with fear or favor.”

One Los Angeles lawyer, who makes numerous appearances before federal jurists, noted: “The guy’s not a judicial crazy man out to change laws or the world. But if he sees something wrong, he’ll correct it.”

Wilson, 47, a Reagan appointee to the federal bench, ruled that the parts of the McCarran-Walter Act, enacted during the height of Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s anti-communist campaign, were “over-broad” and could cause deportation for something as simple as wearing a button in support of certain political groups.

The boyish-looking Wilson was with the Los Angeles law firm of Hochman, Salkin & DeRoy when he was appointed by President Reagan in 1985.

From 1971 to 1977, he worked as a federal prosecutor. He earned good marks for his prosecution of political contributor Louis J. Cella, who was convicted in 1976 of conspiracy, income tax evasion, tax fraud and Medicare fraud.

As a defense attorney, he was considered a brilliant trial lawyer who could handle high-profile cases, especially involving white-collar crime, with ease. One of his victories came in the case of Bernard Whitney, who was convicted in one of the most spectacular land-fraud cases in California history.

Wilson won a sentence of four months in a halfway house for his client.

During the prosecution of auto maker John Z. DeLorean on drug trafficking charges, Wilson was accused by DeLorean attorney Howard Weitzman of lying about whether Wilson’s client, William Morgan Hetrick, had agreed to plead guilty in the case and become a government witness.

Hetrick eventually did plead guilty and the matter against Wilson was dropped for lack of merit.

Wilson, a native New Yorker, graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Lehigh University and a law degree from the Brooklyn Law School in New York.

A down-to-earth person, Wilson is known around the downtown Federal Courthouse for disdaining some of the perks that go along with a lifetime appointment to the federal court. For example, he frequents the fast-food joints in the nearby underground mall instead of the judges’ dining room in the Federal Building on Los Angeles Street.

An avid baseball fan, Wilson delights in showing off his autographed lithograph of New York Yankee great Joe DiMaggio that hangs in his 9th floor chambers.

“What you see is what you get,” Santa Monica criminal attorney Brian O’Neill said.