Who is Lance Ito?
Retired American Judge Lance Allan Ito was born in Los Angeles, California USA, on 2 August 1950, making his zodiac sign Leo. He’s perhaps only known for having presided over the criminal trial of the murder case against Orenthal James ‘O. J.’ Simpson, who was accused of killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, American waiter Ronald Lyle Goldman.
Education and early life
Lance was raised in Los Angeles an only child, by his father Jim and mother Toshi; during World War II, both Jim and Toshi, as well as their families were held at internment camps for Japanese-Americans.
Lance’s parents urged him to focus on his education from a very early age, and he even went to Sunday school at Mount Hollywood Congregational Church. He was amongst the best students while attending John Marshall High School, became the student body president, and in 1968 received the Scholar Athlete Award, as he matriculated.
Lance then enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1972; three years later, Lance earned his J. D. degree from the University of California, Berkeley’s Boalt School of Law.
Lance’s career
Lance launched his career in 1977, when he joined the district attorney’s office in Los Angeles, and began working in the organized crime and terror unit, as well as in the hardcore gang unit.
He was appointed to the Municipal Court by Republican Governor George Deukmejian in 1987, and then to the Superior Court two years later.
Lance began attracting attention in 1991, when he allowed bail to Soon Ja Du, who had been accused of killing 15-year-old African-American girl Latasha Harlins; in the following year, Lance worked on the case of Lyle and Erik Menendez, who had been accused of murdering their parents Mary Louise ‘Kitty’ and José Menendez.
Also in 1992, Lance was the judge on the case of financier Charles H. Keating Jr, whom he sentenced to 10 years behind bars for defrauding investors.
Lance presided over the O. J. Simpson case in 1995, and it was so highly publicized that Lance’s name could’ve been read in numerous newspapers; after the trial had ended, with O.J. found not guilty by the jury, Lance chose to stay away from the media, and not a lot about his further cases is known.
He retired in 2015, and has since been leading a peaceful life at his home in Los Angeles.
O. J. Simpson trial
American former Football player and actor O.J. Simpson married American waitress Nicole Brown in 1977, when she was 18 and he was 30; they began dating while O. J. was still married to his first wife Marguerite L. Whitley, with whom he had three children.
O.J. divorced his wife in 1979, and he and Nicole married on 2 February 1985; she then gave birth to their daughter Sydney in 1985, and son Justin in 1988. O.J. was alegdly often physically abusive towards Nicole, and during a fight even broke her arm – Nicole told the doctors that she’d fallen off her bike, so that her husband wouldn’t be arrested, but later revealed that there were 62 such incidents; the police were called eight times, and O.J. was arrested once.
She filed for divorce on 25 February 1992, and in the following months told the police that O.J. had been stalking her, and threatened to kill her if he were to see her with another man.
Judge Lance Ito from the OJ Simpson trial wished Atlanta Falcons rookie Ito Smith a long and healthy career after finding out they shared the same name:https://t.co/PXvwl5FB9m pic.twitter.com/nwNzc7lX6u
— 247Sports (@247Sports) July 5, 2018
On 12 June 1994 at around 10:15pm, a dogwalker saw Nicole’s Akita pet dog covered in blood in the street; he took the dog to Nicole’s neighbors’ house, who then went to the place at which the dog was found. There, they first found Nicole’s body lying outside her house, and the body of Ron Goldman close by.
Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) commander Keith Bushey ordered four of his detectives to contact O.J. and tell him that his former wife had been murdered; O. J. had to pick up his and Nicole’s children, as they were still sleeping at Nicole’s condominium. The detectives found no one at O.J.’s house, but noticed that his car was parked strangely, and found blood on the door; they also found a blood-stained glove in O.J.’s property, while the second glove was found next to Ron Goldman’s body.
O.J. was taken to the police station on 13 June, and on the following day, he hired attorney Robert Shapiro who assembled a team of lawyers to defend O.J. calling them ‘Dream Team’.
After an arrest warrant had been issued for O.J. he disappeared, leaving behind what was believed to be suicide notes. He was spotted driving his Ford Bronco on 17 June 1994, and the subsequent slow-paced police chase was shown on every television station, including NBC, CNN and CBS. After the police allowed O.J. to speak to his mother for around an hour, he surrendered.
He pleaded not guilty on 20 June, the trial ended on 3 October 1995 and O. J. was found not guilty on both counts of murder.
Love life and wife
Lance prefers not to share the details of his love life with the public, but it’s still widely known that he was until recently a married man.
He exchanged vows with Margaret Ann York in a small ceremony in 1981, attended by only their families and a couple of closest friends; Margaret was the first woman to become Deputy Chief of the LAPD, and was the highest ranking female officer in 2002, when she retired.
Lance and Margaret didn’t have children together – Margaret passed away in 2021.
Lance hasn’t mentioned other women whom he’s perhaps been with, and he’s single as of November 2022, was once married to Margaret Ann York, and doesn’t have children.
Interesting facts and hobbies
Lance dislikes social media networks, and isn’t active on any.
He was an avid cyclist when he was younger, and it’s believed that he entered multiple competitions; Lance enjoyed running in his 20s and 30s, and completed several half-marathons.
He likes to travel, and visited many US states over the course of his career, while he’s also been to several European and Asian countries; his favorite city to travel to is Tokyo, Japan.
Lance’s favorite actors are Keanu Reeves and Robert De Niro, and some of his favorite movies include the trilogy “The Matrix”, “Bill & Ted Face the Music” and “Replicas”.
Height, eyes and wealth
Lance’s age is 72. He has brown eyes and short brown hair, weighs around 150lbs (68kgs) and his height is 5ft 5ins (1.65m).
Lance’s net worth’s been estimated at over $4 million, as of November 2022.
