Trial Date Set for Judge Accused of Drunk Driving

Rejecting protests from the defense, a Beverly Hills judge set a Jan. 13 trial date for Edward L. Davenport, a Los Angeles Municipal Court judge charged with drunk driving after his car crashed into another vehicle at a stop sign.

Davenport said that Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner was prejudiced against him because the two frequently tangled when Reiner was his subordinate in the Los Angeles city attorney’s office. It was during that time that Davenport helped establish procedures for prosecuting drunk-driving suspects when he argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

But Beverly Hills Municipal Court Judge Elden Fox ruled that the tiffs of 20 years ago were not sufficient for him to bar the district attorney from prosecuting the case. He also overruled a defense contention that Deputy Dist. Atty. Katherine Mader should be excluded because she released a copy of Davenport’s arrest report to another attorney and to a legal newspaper.