Posted on 04/19/2002 9:42:07 PM PDT by martin_fierro
Ex-TV Bailiff Rusty Burrell Dies
Fri Apr 19, 9:38 PM ET
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Rusty Burrell, a retired sheriff's deputy who later served as bailiff on the reality television show "The People's Court," died Monday at his home in Rosemead. He was 76.
Burrell, who spent 25 of his 31 years in law enforcement in the court system, was suffering from lung cancer, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
The white-haired lawman was a real-life bailiff during a number of high profile trials, including cult-killer Charles Manson and Patty Hearst, the newspaper heiress kidnapped by radicals who was later accused of joining their crimes.
Burrell often worked with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Joseph Wapner, who was chosen to preside over "The People's Court," dispensing stern lectures with his settlement decisions.
When Burrell retired from the sheriff's department in 1981, he was hired to be the bailiff on the syndicated show, which featured real people trying to settle small claims court grievances on television.
Their tenure on the series ended in 1993, but the two friends reunited several years later to work on "Judge Wapner's Animal Court" on cable's Animal Planet network.
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