Recall Group Attacks Judge Stock’s Defense

A group that began a recall effort against Orange County Superior Court Judge Nancy Wieben Stock after she awarded O.J. Simpson custody of his children accused her Tuesday of creating “complete fabrications” in her defense.

At a news conference outside Municipal Court, the group said a written statement from Stock contained several inaccuracies concerning a second controversial decision that returned two children in 1991 to an Anaheim woman who later shot the children and herself.

Tammy Bruce, president of the Los Angeles-based Women’s Progressive Alliance, which launched the recall effort, took issue with Stock’s statement that she was “one of four different judges who heard the child custody case.”

Stock wrote that after her order, three other judges gave sole custody to the mother and that one of them set aside Stock’s order of joint custody. Bruce disputed that.

“Clearly what her answer was meant to do was to mislead the public into believing that other judges made decisions regarding custody that Stock infers were worse than hers,” Bruce said.

In a written statement released late Tuesday, the judge said that “in the context of a years-long custody dispute, [her] order should not be viewed in isolation.” She also wrote that the recall committee has “consistently ignored” court actions that occurred after Stock’s 1991 order and are incorrect in stating that later judges and mediators did not have the same amount of information Stock had.

Eileen Padberg, consultant for the Committee Opposing the Recall of Judge Nancy Wieben Stock, said Tuesday’s news conference was “a desperate tactic” to try to garner publicity for the recall effort.