Gerald F Uelmen

Ambitious politicians and angry crime victims teamed up Thursday for the kickoff of what could be a noteworthy ballot initiative campaign to speed up criminal trials in California. Ridiculing a system that took three years to bring Night Stalker suspect Richard Ramirez to trial, the victims and their supporters stood in the courtyard of the main County Jail, within earshot of prisoners, and predicted that this far-reaching measure would cut delays of years into just weeks and shorten the agony of those who have endured a crime.

The California Supreme Court is considering whether to nullify more than 4,000 marriage licenses that San Francisco granted to gay couples earlier this year. In an order issued Wednesday, the state high court asked lawyers for the city, the state and anti-gay marriage groups to present written arguments on whether the court should declare the marriages valid or void if it rules that San Francisco exceeded its authority in marrying same-sex couples.

An alternate juror in the Rampart corruption trial has complained about possible misconduct by jurors who convicted three police officers of conspiracy, prompting the judge in the case to meet behind closed doors today with defense attorneys and prosecutors. Juror Wendy L.

The state Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a far-reaching challenge to the constitutionality of Proposition 115, the sweeping criminal justice reform initiative approved by the voters on June 5. In a setback to opponents of the measure, the justices refused to block the continued implementation of the initiative while they determine its legality. The court directed attorneys in the case to file written briefs by Aug. 1, but did not announce when oral arguments will be held.

Robert L. Shapiro, the man who assembled O.J. Simpson's legal Dream Team, is a savvy enough guy. Yet when the case began a year ago, Shapiro now confesses, he was a "computer illiterate" who didn't know his bits from his bytes. Although the marathon trial has been lauded for setting a new high-tech standard in the criminal courts, Shapiro and colleague Robert Blasier say many of the participants even now are struggling with their computers and other gadgets--without complete success.

The presence of Proposition 115 on the June ballot raises two disturbing questions: Has political exploitation of the public's justifiable anxiety over crime created a climate in which rational discussion of the criminal justice system is impossible? Has manipulation of the initiative process transformed that great reform from an instrument of direct democracy into a tool of misrule? Unfortunately, in this case the answer to both questions is yes.

In 12 years as a federal appeals court judge, Anthony M. Kennedy has developed a reputation as a moderate conservative very much like the man whose Supreme Court seat he could fill--Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. Powell frequently served as a swing vote on an evenly divided court, and President Reagan had hoped to replace him with a reliable conservative who would tilt the court to the right on such issues as abortion, civil rights and religion.

Court of Appeal Justice Janice Rogers Brown, who is up for confirmation to the California Supreme Court this week, expressed strong conservative views in legal writings that state bar evaluators reviewed before finding her unqualified for the state high court. In a 1993 Sacramento bar journal article, Brown complained that government was too big and expressed dismay about lawyers who advocate civil liberties for topless dancers and the homeless but not for public prayer.

California has not executed anyone since 1967, but capital punishment has claimed one victim nonetheless--the California Supreme Court. Swamped with mandatory appeals in capital cases, the justices of the high court routinely work seven-day weeks, rule on the death penalty at the astonishing rate of once a week and yet have made scarcely a dent in their backlog of capital cases.

Dist. Atty. Paul Pfingst said Thursday that he plans an appeal to preserve the right of prosecutors under a recent state ballot measure to unilaterally decide whether juveniles should be tried as adults in certain serious crimes. Pfingst said he is confident that the California Supreme Court will overturn a decision by the 4th District Court of Appeal in a case in which Pfingst is attempting to try eight teenagers in Superior Court on charges of attacking five Mexican laborers.