Countywide : L.A. Judge to Handle Sentencing of Citron

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge J. Stephen Czuleger has been appointed to handle the sentencing of former Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert L. Citron for his felony convictions, according to an announcement this week from Orange County Superior Court.

Citron, who pleaded guilty in April to six felonies stemming from the December 1994 bankruptcy, is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 23. He faces up to 14 years in prison.

The Los Angeles judge inherited the case after Presiding Superior Court Judge Theodore E. Millard said last week that Orange County judges might have a conflict of interest in sentencing Citron because they are battling with county government over court funding.

Czuleger was a federal prosecutor before he was appointed to the bench in 1990 by then-Gov. George Deukmejian.

Last year, Czuleger found himself briefly in the national spotlight when he handled several hearings involving the Los Angeles Grand Jury investigation of the O.J. Simpson case.

In one ruling, Czuleger jailed a witness for contempt for disobeying an order to testify before a grand jury that also was investigating the actions of Simpson’s friend, Al C. Cowlings.