Rampart Trial Judge Not New to Spotlight

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Jacqueline A. Connor, who presided over the first trial of accused Rampart Division police officers, is neither fazed by nor unfamiliar with the harsh glare of the spotlight that seems to visit so many L.A. courtrooms.

The 48-year-old judge was one of the first assigned to the court’s so-called long-cause program--which handles the city’s highest-profile cases on the 9th floor of the Criminal Courts Building. Entrance to courtrooms there requires passage through metal detectors.

Local and national reporters covered the Rampart trial, the leading edge of an unfolding scandal that put about 70 Los Angeles police officers under suspicion. Connor’s colleague, Judge Lance Ito--who presided over the O.J. Simpson murder trial--occasionally stopped by.

The scrutiny is continuing as Connor presides over a hearing this morning to determine whether there was jury misconduct during the Rampart trial. Three of the four officers were found guilty of conspiring to obstruct justice by fabricating evidence and framing gang members. A fourth officer was acquitted.

Examination of Connor’s performance in the Rampart trial started early.

It was discovered that in March 1997 she had written a glowing letter of commendation for then-police Officer Rafael Perez’s testimony during a kidnapping trial in her courtroom. Then, more than three years later, after Perez admitted to corruption, she quipped at an awards dinner in June that Perez’s lawyer--who was in attendance--should not come near her courtroom with his client.

Both sets of comments raised eyebrows--especially as she began making pretrial rulings in favor of the accused officers. Some wondered if she should have recused herself from the case. Victor Chavez, the presiding judge of the Superior Court, said he saw no reason for her to step down.

Connor would not comment on the Perez letter and said at the time through a spokesman that her bar dinner remarks were made in jest.

For years, Connor was seen by defense attorneys as pro-prosecution. But during the Rampart trial, she was seen as favoring police--the defendants in this case.

Those who have sat in her courtroom agree she is a tough-minded, decisive judge who prizes punctuality, moves proceedings along at a brisk pace and looks askance at lawyers who try to argue with her after she has made her rulings. She’s soft-spoken from her bench, forcing lawyers to lean forward as she verbally eviscerates them.

“Once I’ve made up my mind, I don’t allow attorneys to go on indefinitely,” she told the Daily Journal in 1994. “I make decisions. Isn’t that what I get paid for?”

Connor is not squeamish about sentencing people to death. Last year, she presided over the capital trial of Glen Rogers, who was convicted of murdering a woman in Van Nuys. In a key decision, Connor ruled prosecutors could present details of two out-of-state killings connected to Rogers. Connor eventually sentenced him to death.

Connor has a reputation for being respectful of jurors. She lets them submit written questions. In the Rampart trial, jurors asked dozens of questions, prompting defense attorney Harland W. Braun to remark Wednesday that some jurors had acted like advocates.

Connor was born in Detroit but raised in Japan until the age of 16. Her father ran an import-export business. She speaks fluent Japanese and has said her years in Japan gave her a respect for age.

She graduated from USC in 1973, and earned her law degree there in 1976. From 1977 to 1986 she was a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles where, among other things, she headed the sex crimes unit.

She met her husband, James Bascue, when they were both prosecutors. They were married in 1980 and have two sons.

Connor was appointed a Municipal Court judge by then-Gov. George Deukmejian in 1986. Two years later, she was appointed by the governor to the Los Angeles Superior Court.

Her husband was chief deputy under former Dist. Atty. Robert Philobosian. When Philobosian lost his reelection bid, Bascue left. He is now a Los Angeles Superior Court judge and in line to be presiding judge.

Connor will continue to be watched through the sentencing of the convicted Rampart officers. She could send them to prison for up to four years, or she could set them free on probation.