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Posted on 09/09/2006 12:48:24 AM PDT by raccoonradio
Six years after TV video of her infamous outburst on the bench thrust her into controversy, former Superior Court Judge Maria Lopez is back in a black robe - and in front of the TV cameras.
But now, controversy is welcome. She’s a TV judge.
The syndicated show “Judge Maria Lopez” debuts Monday on 210 television stations nationwide, including Boston’s TV38.
Lopez, 52, resigned from her Superior Court judgeship in 2003.
She made headlines in 2000 when TV cameras captured her shouting at prosecutor David Deakin to “sit down now” after she handed a light sentence of house detention to Charles “Ebony” Horton.
Horton, then a 22-year-old transvestite, had confessed to kidnapping and attempting to rape an 11-year-old Dorchester boy. Lopez had postponed Horton’s sentencing after she accused another prosecutor of creating a “media circus.”
“I think Maria Lopez is a very talented woman and lawyer and there is no reason to believe that she won’t be a success in her new television endeavor. I wish her the best in that effort,” said Attorney Paul Ware, who prosecuted the Commission on Judicial Conduct’s case against Lopez. The CJC had wanted to oust Lopez from the bench for her behavior. “I wish her the very best of luck,” added CJC Executive Director Jill Pearson.
While Lopez’s fiesty and brash behavior was unwelcome in the courtroom, TV honchos are banking on it to make Lopez a star. Syndication celeb “Judge Judy” just signed a $37 million, five-year deal.
“She’s a natural on TV. She looks great up there and she’s funny and smart and fiesty,” said her Boston entertainment lawyer George Tobia, who was at the Chelsea Studios as Lopez taped a few episodes.
The news show touts her “dynamic persona, ‘hard knocks’ perspective and no-nonsense approach.”
Lopez, who has a house in Provincetown and one in Newton, has been staying in a New York City furnished apartment while taping episodes in the Big Apple. She flies to New York on Mondays for taping and heads back to Massachusetts later in the week.
Lopez has also launched her own production company called, appropriately, Sit Down! Productions.
we'll...have..a...gay...old...time...
Wife of Boston Phoenix publisher Stephen Mindich
>>SonyPictures television executives hope that Lopez's fiery personality, which flared periodically during her 15 years on the bench in Massachusetts, will set her apart from the pack of court TV shows like Judge Judy and People's Court.
"My style is very different," said Lopez, whose outspokenness -- some would say temper -- put her in the headlines, and sometimes on the hot seat, in Massachusetts.
Lopez's bench manner and sex appeal appear well-suited for her TV role. A big hit could be in the making for the budding personality.
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