Posted on 03/06/2006 9:50:56 AM PST by NormsRevenge
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert J. Sandoval, who was one of the city's first openly gay prosecutors, has died. He was 56.
Sandoval died Feb. 28 of a heart attack while being treated for leukemia at City of Hope Hospital, said Bill Martin, his partner of 23 years.
Sandoval joined the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office in 1978 as part of an effort by then-City Attorney Burt Pines to recruit more gays and minorities.
He was elected a commissioner of the Municipal Court in 1984 and became a Superior Court commissioner in 1997. Then-Gov. Gray Davis appointed him to the Los Angeles Superior Court in 2001.
"He was a pioneer in the sense of being open about being gay and enjoying his work and not suffering any discrimination," said Deputy City Attorney Matthew St. George, who had known Sandoval for 20 years.
Colleagues described Sandoval as evenhanded and efficient. He believed that being gay gave him insights that could improve the judicial process.
He asked prospective jurors whether they had a domestic partner or a spouse, and ended the practice of announcing in open court the results of AIDS tests given to people facing prostitution charges.
Among his high-profile cases was the 1995 prosecution of British actor Hugh Grant on prostitution charges.
"He was totally respectful of the rights of everyone in the process. That was one of the reasons everyone thought so highly of him," said Superior Court Judge Michael Nash, who supervised Sandoval when he was a Children's Court commissioner in the late 1990s.
St. George said Sandoval and Martin were one of the first gay male couples to adopt a child in Los Angeles County. Sandoval continued to help their son, Harrison, 13, with his homework every night even when he was hospitalized, friends said.
In addition to Martin and Harrison, Sandoval is survived by his mother, Gilda Sandoval of Rosemead; and two sisters, Francie Turner of Coto de Caza and Claudia Davis of Reno.
Lots of illnesses....could it have been AIDS as the ubderlying cause?
Sounds as if his major gay insight was to help conceal the identity of AIDS carriers.
So, a openly gay prosecutor dies and it's news. How much space in this paper was devoted to fallen soliders?
maybe, he was a pioneer in gay rights or so says the article.
You know, it isn't doing homosexuals any favors to make the concealment of AIDS official policy. Although the PC explanation is that concealment protects gay rights, the practical result is that more homosexuals die of AIDS. Which, I suspect, was the case with this judge.
His sad legacy is that he helped spread AIDS through the gay community he was trying to help.
AIDS, most likely. Nonetheless, may he RIP.
This particular paper I linked this story from actually does a pretty good job covering our troops and local news about service members from that area, Bakersfield.
I suspect this item is up on a lot of the SoCal papers and such anyway so expected it to be posted eventually.
Must be important to someone that he has sex with men.
Of course, that is probably more important than his skill as a judge.
Pink ribbon alert!
"Come on everybody, we've got quilting to do."
So sad that this lifestyle takes so many lives that could have been spent doing so many good things instead.
Uh, I'm guessign that's from Southpark??
Close, Team America.
Not bad for someone who has seen neither. ;o)
***maybe, he was a pioneer in gay rights or so says the article.***
A PIONEER? Does that mean he went where NO man had gone before?
Ohh I could not pass that up!
"Colleagues described Sandoval as evenhanded and efficient. He believed that being gay gave him insights that could improve the judicial process."
In other words, practitioners of same sex sodomy are Nature's Noblemen, far superior to us het breeders.
For the list?
Leukemia strikes all kinds and ages. Heart disease is not uncommon for a man in his mid-50's and likely the leukemia *and* treatment was a whole lot of stress on his body.
RIP.
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