Ruling Blocks Bid to Make Lockyer Appear in Court

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay to Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer over the holiday weekend, ruling that for now he does not have to make a personal appearance before a Los Angeles federal judge who had threatened to throw the state’s top prosecutor in jail for contempt of court.

Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real ordered that Lockyer appear in his court on Tuesday.

Real maintains that the attorney general’s office has not properly complied with a discovery request in a case involving a constitutional challenge to a death sentence imposed in Orange County in 1983. Real wanted Lockyer to appear before him and explain why his orders were not being fully met.

The appeals court stayed Real’s order until it has had time to assess whether he can compel Lockyer to appear personally and the merits of the discovery order, which directed the attorney general’s office to gather records in a 1982 murder case. The federal public defenders office is attempting to vacate a death sentence for John L. Visciotti, convicted of the murder and robbery of Timothy Dykstra.