Santa Ana : Judge to Step Down in Maniscalco Trial

With the end of jury selection still several weeks away, illness has forced a change in judges in the Thomas Maniscalco murder trial in Santa Ana. But no delay is expected for the beginning of testimony next month.

Superior Court Judge James R. Franks II will be replaced at the end of the month by Judge Kathleen E. O’Leary. While Franks will continue duties on the bench, a recent bout with emphysema has forced him to step down from presiding over a lengthy trial, court officials said.

Maniscalco, 43, an attorney, is charged with masterminding the 1980 triple slaying in Westminster of a fellow Hessian biker, and the victim’s girlfriend and bodyguard. Maniscalco, who could receive the death penalty if convicted, claims he is being framed by several people who had been staying at his house and now will be the key prosecution witnesses against him.

The trial has been delayed many times since Maniscalco and a co-defendant, Daniel Duffy, were arrested in 1984. Many of the delays were caused by Maniscalco’s successful efforts to force Judge Theodore E. Millard off the case. Millard eventually left voluntarily last year to avoid further delays. But the trial was held up by more defense motions in Franks’ court, and then by Franks’ illness this summer.

Franks is scheduled to complete the individual interviews with prospective jurors on their death penalty views. O’Leary will take over the trial when the individual interviews end and the prospective jurors are brought back into open court together for the final stage of jury selection.