Kathleen Parker; Pioneering Judge in L.A.

Kathleen Parker, a pioneering judge who presided over murder trials and other criminal cases in Los Angeles courts for 35 years, has died. She was 90.

Parker, who was appointed to the Los Angeles Municipal Court by Gov. Goodwin Knight in 1957, died Friday in Los Angeles, her granddaughter Linda Kay Fow, said Monday.

In 1962, when women jurists were still a rarity, Parker boldly ran for an open seat on the Los Angeles Superior Court bench against what she described as “14 very nice gentlemen.” She won.

When she officially retired in 1975, hundreds of friends in the legal community crowded into a Hollywood sound studio to wish her well, and she greeted them grandly from atop the head of the largest guest, an elephant. But the next day, Parker was back on the bench, and she remained there by special appointment until 1992.

A former Times Woman of the Year, Parker was known for her refined manners and appearance on the bench and her off-duty activities, including serving as president of the Volunteers of America of Los Angeles.

But the cases that she presided over were anything but demure. She handled rape, robbery, narcotics and frequently murder cases.

She sentenced Elmer “Geronimo” Pratt, the former Black Panther official convicted of killing a woman on a Santa Monica tennis court, to life imprisonment.

In another celebrated murder trial, she reduced the jury’s sentence of death for Deputy Dist. Atty. Jack Kirschke to life imprisonment after he was convicted of killing his wife and her lover. Known for being tough but fair, Parker said she reduced the sentence because jurors may have been prejudiced by Kirschke’s barbed comments about them in his final arguments.

Born in St. Paul, Minn., Parker moved to California with her family, graduated from Los Angeles High School and became a secretary at the Bank of Italy (now the Bank of America), where her father worked. After a marriage and a divorce, Parker became a legal secretary to support her young son.

When she told her attorney employer that she intended to complete the law studies that she had begun at Southwestern University and later Pacific Coast University, he tried to dissuade her by noting that she made more money than most average lawyers.

“What makes you think,” she retorted, “I’m going to be an average lawyer?”

During World War II, Parker worked as a naturalization examiner for the U.S. Department of Justice. She later served nine years as a research attorney in the state Court of Appeal.

Parker is survived by her son, Morton Marley, three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Services are scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday at Hollywood Memorial Park, 6600 Santa Monica Blvd.