News
2006-03-07
Pioneering Los
Angeles judge dies
Los Angeles
superior court judge Robert J. Sandoval, who was one of the
city's first openly gay prosecutors, has died. He was 56.
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 February 28 of a heart attack
while being treated for leukemia at City of Hope
National Medical Center in Duarte, Calif., 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-governor 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,
Calif.; and two sisters, Francie Turner of Coto de
Caza, Calif., and Claudia Davis of Reno. (AP)
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