Judge Nancy Wieben Stock

One of the greatest misconceptions circulating in Orange County is that Judge Nancy Wieben Stock followed the law in both the Kyle and Simpson-Brown custody cases. That is simply not true. The plain facts are that Wieben Stock was neither following the law nor using common sense. I have searched to no avail for the law that required Wieben Stock to return these children to a home wherein there was established domestic violence and the children were at high risk. Used generally to make children wards of the court, [the law]

He's been called a hawk. And a softy. He's a straight shooter, a man who looks people in the eye when speaking to them. Yet he's not beyond surprises, even to those who know what to expect. And while he tends to dig his heels into the ideological ground on which he stands, Judge Theodore E. Millard loves to explore new terrain, especially in the legal realm. The 58-year-old Orange resident was the county's top jurist until New Year's Day, when Judge Kathleen E. O'Leary took over the post.

Who and what is Tammy Bruce? A self-serving activist whose comments are suited to her own agenda ("Peers Defend Jurist's Custody Ruling," Feb. 8). I appear regularly in front of Judge Nancy Wieben Stock on complicated felony cases representing defendants. She regularly denies more of my requests than she grants. Am I happy with that? No. But every time I've been in her court, my clients and I have been treated fairly and politely and her rulings have been well-reasoned, even if I disagree.

For the second time this year, the Orange County Superior Court judge who gave O.J. Simpson full custody of his two youngest children was handed a notice of intent to recall Monday morning in her Fullerton courtroom. When Judge Nancy Wieben Stock was first served a notice in February, the Women's Progress Alliance--the group spearheading the effort--overlooked a requirement: that the elected official be in office for at least 90 days prior to the start of the recall process.

The recent account in your newspaper and other news media of the threatened recall of Judge Nancy Wieben Stock focuses upon the misconception of the function of the judge in our society and the broad use of the recall petition. We ask our judges that they provide the stability of our society in applying the laws. We cannot ask for more because we have assigned to the legislature and to the people the function of passing the laws, and have restricted the judiciary to the rules to be used in interpreting and applying these laws.

For the second time this year, the Orange County Superior Court judge who gave O.J. Simpson full custody of his two youngest children was handed a notice of intent to recall Monday morning in her Fullerton courtroom. When Judge Nancy Wieben Stock was first served a notice in February, the Women's Progress Alliance--the group spearheading the effort--overlooked a requirement: that the elected official be in office for at least 90 days prior to the start of the recall process.

The Board of Directors of the Family Law Section of the Orange County Bar Assn. feels compelled to comment on the controversy and associated press coverage regarding the 1991 decision of Judge Nancy Wieben Stock concerning the custody of the Kyle children. While the death of the children is an unimaginable tragedy, the outrageous and unwarranted criticism of Judge [Wieben] Stock's decision by uninformed lay persons is inexcusable. As practitioners of family law, this board and the membership of this section are intimately aware of the complex issues faced by any judge when considering any contested custody dispute.

I conceived of this column as a straight-ahead defense of local Judge Nancy Wieben Stock, and that's still where it will end up, but connecting the dots was more problematic than expected. Wieben Stock is a former federal prosecutor and now an Orange County Superior Court judge who recently granted O.J. Simpson custody of his two young children.

He's been called a hawk. And a softy. He's a straight shooter, a man who looks people in the eye when speaking to them. Yet he's not beyond surprises, even to those who know what to expect. And while he tends to dig his heels into the ideological ground on which he stands, Judge Theodore E. Millard loves to explore new terrain, especially in the legal realm. The 58-year-old Orange resident was the county's top jurist until New Year's Day, when Judge Kathleen E. O'Leary took over the post.

She is presiding over one of the highest-profile custody disputes in the nation. Reporters, photographers and television crews camp outside her courtroom. A gag order has been imposed to prevent details of the proceedings from making the nightly news. But all that hasn't fazed Superior Court Judge Nancy Wieben Stock, who is treating the trial to determine the fate of O.J. Simpson's two young children just like any other, courtroom observers say.

One of the greatest misconceptions circulating in Orange County is that Judge Nancy Wieben Stock followed the law in both the Kyle and Simpson-Brown custody cases. That is simply not true. The plain facts are that Wieben Stock was neither following the law nor using common sense. I have searched to no avail for the law that required Wieben Stock to return these children to a home wherein there was established domestic violence and the children were at high risk. Used generally to make children wards of the court, [the law]

Who and what is Tammy Bruce? A self-serving activist whose comments are suited to her own agenda ("Peers Defend Jurist's Custody Ruling," Feb. 8). I appear regularly in front of Judge Nancy Wieben Stock on complicated felony cases representing defendants. She regularly denies more of my requests than she grants. Am I happy with that? No. But every time I've been in her court, my clients and I have been treated fairly and politely and her rulings have been well-reasoned, even if I disagree.

The recent account in your newspaper and other news media of the threatened recall of Judge Nancy Wieben Stock focuses upon the misconception of the function of the judge in our society and the broad use of the recall petition. We ask our judges that they provide the stability of our society in applying the laws. We cannot ask for more because we have assigned to the legislature and to the people the function of passing the laws, and have restricted the judiciary to the rules to be used in interpreting and applying these laws.

I conceived of this column as a straight-ahead defense of local Judge Nancy Wieben Stock, and that's still where it will end up, but connecting the dots was more problematic than expected. Wieben Stock is a former federal prosecutor and now an Orange County Superior Court judge who recently granted O.J. Simpson custody of his two young children.

The Board of Directors of the Family Law Section of the Orange County Bar Assn. feels compelled to comment on the controversy and associated press coverage regarding the 1991 decision of Judge Nancy Wieben Stock concerning the custody of the Kyle children. While the death of the children is an unimaginable tragedy, the outrageous and unwarranted criticism of Judge [Wieben] Stock's decision by uninformed lay persons is inexcusable. As practitioners of family law, this board and the membership of this section are intimately aware of the complex issues faced by any judge when considering any contested custody dispute.

Local judges released transcripts Friday they say show a colleague made a legally sound decision when she granted joint custody of two young children to their emotionally troubled mother--who police believe last week killed the youngsters before taking her own life. But the evidence presented at the unusual forum on behalf of Orange County Superior Court Judge Nancy Wieben Stock did not placate Denise Brown and others who remain outraged at the jurist's December decision to grant O.J.

Local judges released transcripts Friday they say show a colleague made a legally sound decision when she granted joint custody of two young children to their emotionally troubled mother--who police believe last week killed the youngsters before taking her own life. But the evidence presented at the unusual forum on behalf of Orange County Superior Court Judge Nancy Wieben Stock did not placate Denise Brown and others who remain outraged at the jurist's December decision to grant O.J.

An Orange County Superior Court judge has denied a family's request to disqualify the judge who ended the long-running Winnie the Pooh royalties lawsuit earlier this year in favor of Walt Disney Co. The family who holds merchandising rights to Winnie the Pooh requested in May that Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Charles W. McCoy's decision in favor of Disney be reversed because of alleged bias.

She is presiding over one of the highest-profile custody disputes in the nation. Reporters, photographers and television crews camp outside her courtroom. A gag order has been imposed to prevent details of the proceedings from making the nightly news. But all that hasn't fazed Superior Court Judge Nancy Wieben Stock, who is treating the trial to determine the fate of O.J. Simpson's two young children just like any other, courtroom observers say.