All you need to know about Lance Ito
Lance Ito is a retired American judge with a net worth of $4 million. He is best known for presiding over O.J. Simpson’s murder trial in 1995 while serving on the Superior Court bench in Los Angeles County, California. Ito retired in 2015, following the closure of his courtroom in 2012 due to budget shortages.
Unlike almost every other character in the trial, Lance Ito has never written a book about his experiences and has denied all interview and media appearance invitations relating to the trial. At the height of the trial, he was perhaps one of the most renowned individuals on the planet.
Who is Lance Ito?
Lance Ito was born on August 2, 1950, in Los Angeles, CA. He was born to Jim and Toshi Ito, who had previously been interned with their family along with other Japanese Americans during World War II. He was raised in church and attended Sunday School at Mount Hollywood Congregational Church. As a teenager, he attended John Marshall High School and excelled in both academics and athletics. He served as student body president and got the Scholar-Athlete honor upon graduation in 1968.
Following high school, Ito attended the University of California, Los Angeles, where he earned a bachelor’s degree with honors in 1972. He then enrolled in law school at the University of California, Berkeley, and graduated with his J.D. in 1975.
How old is Lance Ito?
He is currently 73 years old.
What is Lance Ito’s net worth?
He was estimated to be worth $4 Million.
What is Lance Ito’s career?
One of Ito’s first employment was with the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office in 1977. He served in the extreme gang, organized crime, and terror units, among others. Ito succeeded admirably in his position, and Republican Governor George Deukmejian named him as a judge of the Municipal Court in 1987. He was later elevated to the Superior Court in 1989.
Some of Ito’s early well-known cases include the 1991 Latasha Harlins case, in which young Harlins was killed by convenience store clerk Soon Ja Du. While he was not the judge who presided over the trial, he did play an early part in establishing that Soon Ja Du was not a flight danger and denied the district attorney’s plea to revoke his bail.
He also presided over banker Charles H. Keating Jr.’s trial in 1992. Keating was implicated in a large savings and loan scam involving one of his enterprises, the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association. He was charged with several charges of defrauding Lincoln’s customers by selling them worthless junk bonds. Ito ruled over his trial, which resulted in his conviction on 17 charges of fraud, racketeering, and conspiracy. Ito gave Keating the maximum 10-year term.
Ito’s most notable case occurred in 1995 when he presided over the murder trial of O.J. Simpson. The trial received a lot of attention because of the players involved, as well as Ito’s decision to allow it to be televised, which several condemned. Ito was described as enjoying the publicity at various times, and others have claimed that he appeared to prolong the trial by permitting too many recesses and sidebars.
