Alfonso Zirpoli; Judge Curbed Police Power in ‘Zebra Killer’ Probe

Alfonso Zirpoli, 90, a U.S. district judge in San Francisco known for his ruling halting wholesale questioning of African Americans in the 1974 “Zebra Killer” racial slayings. In that series of murders, 14 white people were killed and five black men were eventually convicted. But San Francisco police had indiscriminately stopped about 600 African Americans in a search for the killers. In a case brought by the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People and the American Civil Liberties Union, Zirpoli ruled that although the stops might be “logical and practical,” they constituted illegal “deprivation of another’s constitutional rights.” He said police must have additional evidence of suspicion before stopping anyone. The slayings got their name because investigators communicated their information over the police’s broadcast band “Z for zebra.” Born in Denver, Zirpoli graduated from UC Berkeley and Boalt Hall law school. He served as assistant district attorney, assistant U.S. attorney and San Francisco County supervisor before being named to the federal bench by President John F. Kennedy in 1961. Zirpoli continued to handle a reduced caseload until 1990. On Monday in San Francisco.