CACJ History

George Porter, tired of seeing the needs of criminal defense lawyers ignored, writes a letter to the criminal defense attorneys throughout California proposing a statewide criminal defense organization. In September, 60 defense lawyers meet to discuss the need for such an organization. California Attorneys for Criminal Justice is born. In October CACJ's first president, Ephraim Margolin, edits the initial issue of a new publication intended solely for criminal defense attorneys entitled FORUM.

CACJ grows so rapidly that the Board of Governors decides to hire a part-time executive director for $200 per month. Harry Humphreys is selected, and his duties include editing FORUM. On June 29, CACJ presents its first Criminal Law Seminar at the Marriott Hotel in Los Angeles. December 6 marks CACJ's first annual meeting. Held at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, it is followed the next day by CACJ's first Fall Seminar, a tradition that will continue for the next 25 years and beyond.

Excerpt from the President’s Fall Seminar Address: We had an idea--it was not as majestic as a dream; simply an idea. It was an idea to join together. We are not joiners. We are proud, tough individuals. We had seen these organizations before. They were little more than chowder and marching societies. They were social clubs that entertained judges and included within their membership district attorneys, city attorneys and other prosecutors. We were skeptical.People told us that it could not be done. There were too many big egos. The state was too large, too diversified and the problems so different in many areas. We were also told that our organization was not self-interested enough. People had the temerity to suggest that such an organization would be self-defeating. If we were able to help people who were accused of crime through legislation and otherwise, we would lose money. We did it however. We started with goals to change the police/prosecutor monologue into a dialogue. We had a goal to tell the other side of the story to the Legislature, to the courts and to other lawyers, and we further promised to bind together to help one another with common problems. We succeeded and we succeeded beyond our expectations.

--Paul Fitzgerald

Law Student members become eligible for CACJ membership, which now stands at 700.

CACJ membership reaches 1000. The seminars are unequaled in their excellence, drawing huge crowds, particularly the Fall Seminar in San Francisco. With the August-September 1976 issue, FORUM’s first "glossy" issue, editorship is assumed by attorney Howard Bechefsky.

The August-September issue of FORUM features an interview with Supreme Court Associate Justice Wiley Manuel, beginning a tradition of FORUM interviews. The first award for Significant Contributions to the Field of Criminal Justice is presented to the former California Supreme Court Chief Justice Donald R. Wright.

Charles Sevilla becomes editor of FORUM. March marks the first CACJ/CPDA Death Penalty Defense Seminar. Attendees receive a death penalty manual consisting of two volumes of law and motions that is almost 1,000 pages in length.

CACJ Foundation is incorporated on April 6. Article IIThe specific and primary purpose for which this corporation is organized is to improve the quality of criminal justice by engaging in activities designed to educate judges, attorneys and members of the public and by developing and disseminating a body of new knowledge about the criminal justice system. This corporation shall be operated in connection with California Attorneys for Criminal Justice.• "Great Moments in Courtroom History" makes its first appearance in the January-February issue of FORUM.

In Mid-1979, a disbarred lawyer from New York, John Wilkes, walks into the CACJ office offering a manuscript on defense tactics and ethics for publication. Editor Sevilla throws him out, but not before Wilkes’ manuscript is rescued by the CACJ staff. It is published in the September-October issue of FORUM.

Winston K. Schoonover, formerly an associate in John Wilkes’ law firm, reads his former boss’ article, and decides to share his memories with the rest of CACJ. His story appears in the November-December 1979 issue of FORUM. Wilkesworld is born.

CACJ's membership grows to 1,400 members, including 81 law student members. Membership in CACJ is extended to allied professionals under the "Associate Member" category.

Anita Susan Brenner becomes editor of FORUM. CACJ takes the lead in organizing a coalition that results in the prevention of numerous disasters in Sacramento, including: the proposed elimination of the diminished capacity defense; and the limitation of punitive damages in civil actions against police officers for excessive use of force, false imprisonment and false arrest.

CACJ increases its legislative activities, sponsoring AB 1464 (Bates). This bill, which would have allowed defendants to make restitution in lieu of imprisonment in non-violent felonies, passed the Assembly Criminal Justice Committee but subsequently died in the Assembly Ways and Means Committee.

CACJ holds press conferences in Los Angeles and Sacramento to announce the formation of Californians for Responsible Law Enforcement in the campaign against Prop. 8, the Gann Initiative. CACJ legislative activities finally meet with success when two CACJ-sponsored bills are enacted by the California Legislature: AB 2072 (Levine), which makes an addition to PC § 1000, establishing a model diversion program, and AB 2494 (Floyd), which amends PC § 1298 to allow the posting of real property as security for bail regardless of whether the property is technically held in the defendant’s name. Proposition 8 hits California. CACJ publishes the 412-page Prop. 8 Handbook, distributed at the annual Fall Seminar.

CACJ President Gerald Uelmen writes in the March-April issue of FORUM of a dangerous initiative being planned called the Speedy Trial initiative. He voices concern about its draconian provisions which include: hearsay preliminary hearings; the elimination of attorney-conducted voir dire; nullification of Hovey and Hawkins; and non-unanimous juries. CACJ members attack the use of public funds by district attorneys in gathering signatures for the initiative in a civil suit filed in Los Angeles. As a result, the backers are unable to gather the necessary signatures, and the initiative does not qualify for the ballot.

In October Anne Fragasso becomes editor of FORUM. CACJ celebrates it 10th Anniversary at the Fall Seminar in San Francisco. Chief Justice Rose Bird, Justice Stanley Mosk, Federal District Judge Alcee Hastings, Fred Korematsu, Gerry Spence, Bobby Lee Cook and Leonard Weinglass all contribute to the festivities.

CACJ publishes its first Expert Witness Directory, providing practitioners names of over 500 experts in 50 categories. This year also marks the publication of the third edition of CACJ's Complete Sentencing Handbook.• CACJ's holds its second Summer Retreat in Santa Cruz. Special guests include Flip Wilson and Geraldine.

The CACJ Amicus Committee, long recognized as the most vigorous and effective criminal defense amicus voice in California, filing over 100 amicus briefs a year, reaches new highs: amicus briefs are filed in the United State Supreme Court, California Supreme Court and several District Courts of Appeal, Federal District Courts, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, and the North Carolina Supreme Court. By 1991 the CACJ Amicus Committee will file over 1500 briefs, a tribute to its longtime chair, Ephraim Margolin.

Membership renewal rate rises from 66% (in 1983) to 80%.

Twelve Angry Men is shown as a fund-raiser for the CACJ Foundation and is attended by 180 people, netting over $1000.

The Contempt Committee is expanded to include an Attorney Assistance Program. The expanded program will be available to attorneys facing grand jury subpoenas, pretrial disqualification motions, harassment or other difficulties. A hotline is also established to put CACJ members in touch with other members who have special expertise in particular areas of the law such as entrapment, sexual molestation, etc.

CACJ presents "mini-seminars" on "Defense of Child Sexual Abuse Cases," at four locations throughout the state. The seminar syllabus will prove a top-selling publication for the next 5 years!

The politics of fear and deception raises its ugly head with the campaign to oust Chief Justice Rose Bird and Justices Joseph Grodin and Cruz Reynoso. CACJ President Alex Landon compares this threat to the independent judiciary to the establishment of the lawless "Special Section" court during the Nazi occupation of France, which existed only to implement the government’s agenda: Those who would say, "Oh, that happened under the Nazis, it can’t happen here," had better look to the agenda of the people currently trying to replace judges at all levels with individuals who are more result-oriented and will not be deterred by the law.... We are communicators and must utilize our communication skills, both oral and written, to counter the lies of those who would destroy our independent judiciary and the rights which protect all of us.

FORUM’s new design, with a two-color cover, debuts with the January-February issue. The now widely-used Attorney Contempt Kit becomes available at a special seminar entitled "Defense Attorneys Under Siege: Offensive Strategies for Offensive Times."

After having debated the issue over several years, the CACJ Board of Governors decides to employ a full-time lobbyist to run our legislative program in Sacramento, marking the beginning of CACJ's emergence as an important player in the Capitol scene.

CACJ grabs headlines throughout California as it leads the attack on the notorious Los Angeles jail-house informant scandal. The first CACJ Trial Advocacy Workshop is held at the Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove. The program is wildly successful, topped off by a dinner dance at the beautiful Monterey Aquarium where music is provided by the widely acclaimed New Butte Creek Sextet.

CACJ membership increases to over 2,500 bona fide dues-paying members! Foreseeing that CACJ's regular income is not keeping up with the expenses of its many membership services and expanded legislative activities, the Board undertakes a major fund-raising event: the drawing at the fall seminar for a Mazda. This venture raises a whopping $31,000 for CACJ.

When Governor Deukmejian nominates Harvey Zall to be the new State Public Defender, CACJ undertakes formal opposition to his nomination in the Senate, despite being told that Zall is a virtual shoo-in. CACJ's clout in Sacramento is confirmed when Zall withdraws his name from consideration in February.

An unnamed deputy state public defender writes CACJ: The history of criminal defense is bejeweled with inspiring tales of lawyers who put their personal needs and benefits to one side as they stuck their necks out in furtherance of an ideal. That’s what drew a lot of us into this practice. Whenever I feel pride in our brotherhood-sisterhood of great lawyers, I’ll always think of [CACJ] .... I’ll also smile for a change when I write my annual check for CACJ dues.

After helping to expose the widespread use of unreliable jailhouse informants during the investigation of Leslie White (a.k.a. the Los Angeles informant scandal), CACJ introduces legislation in Sacramento, affectionately called the Jail House Snitch bill. This bill is the first legislation in California history that imposes requirements on prosecutors relating to jailhouse informants.

CACJ raises over a quarter of a million dollars in the fight to defeat the misnamed Victims’ Bill of Rights initiative, Proposition 115. Members throughout the state volunteer to speak, write and meet with editiorial boards in the attempt to derail Prop. 115.

Although unsuccessful, CACJ learns valuable lessons from the Prop. 115 campaign. The Public Information Committee is expanded and strengthened, becoming a model that is copied by other organizations. The CACJ Foundation is bolstered for the purpose of educating the public about the role of the criminal defense lawyer and the Constitution.

CACJ rushes to prepare defense lawyers for the changes instituted by Prop. 115 with seminars in Los Angeles, San Diego and Palo Alto. Over 1,100 attorneys are urged by seminar speakers to take a stand against prosecutorial discovery ( and other provisions of dubious constitutionality).

The CACJ/CPDA Death Penalty Defense Seminar is by now the most successful program of its kind in the nation; lawyers from every state that has capital punishment have attended. The CACJ/CPDA California Death Penalty Defense Manual, edited by Bryan Shechmeister, has become a separate publication of five volumes that includes motions on diskette, making it the most advanced treatise on death penalty law in the nation.

CACJ's Public Information Committee and the CACJ Foundation produce the highly acclaimed series of public service announcements (PSA’s) featuring actor Richard Dysart (L.A. Law) in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Bill of Rights. The PSA’s are shown in entirety to the membership at the fall "Bill of Rights" seminar and win the 1991 Pirate award for the best national media campaign.

Attendance at the annual CACJ/CPDA Death Penalty Defense seminar, held in Monterey, surpasses 1,050. With the institution of mandatory education requirements for lawyers in California, CACJ becomes an approved provider of Minimum Continuing Legal Education credits and plans six major statewide seminars for 1992.

The first Death Penalty College, for training lawyers who are handling their first capital cases, is held at the University of Santa Clara Law School in August. This intensive program is an overwhelming success. It is named in honor of the late Bryan Shechmeister, a CACJ member who was an instigator of the college and a source of inspiration to the entire capital defense community; he will be remembered gratefully during each session of the Bryan R. Shechmeister Death Penalty College. The CACJ Newsletter is created to keep the membership informed about CACJ action and provide a medium for exchanging information.

CACJ contributes $10,000 to an ACLU-coordinated media campaign to sway public opinion and avert the execution of Robert Alton Harris, a victim of fetal alcohol syndrome. CACJ members rally with organizers from Death Penalty Focus, protesting the reinstitution of state sanctioned murder. On April 21, Harris becomes the first person to have been executed in California since 1967.

CACJ lobbies hard against the California District Attorneys’ Association’s (CDAA) proposed asset forfeiture law because of its draconian provisions. Members work with our lobbyist to bring the abuses of asset forfeiture to the attention of the public and the legislature. Attorney General Dan Lungren joins in the fray, lobbying for the District Attorneys’ bill. After CDAA is badly out-maneuvered, the forfeiture bill is routed, dying on the Assembly floor.

CACJ expands the summer Trial Advocacy Workshop to include a simultaneous Appellate Advocacy Workshop. The workshops are attended by 100 registrants who kick off the weekend by rockin’ with the Barry Melton Band at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

CACJ sponsors its first Federal Practice Seminar and attracts 150 lawyers from throughout the state who give the program rave reviews. New editions of The Complete Sentencing Handbook and the Contempt Defense Manual are published by CACJ, the former in hard cover (CACJ's first!) and the latter with an optional computer diskette to expedite the production of motions.

Despite vigorous attempts to defeat the measure, the state legislature passes the so-called "Three Strikes" bill, dramatically increasing sentences for both non-violent and violent offenses for those with prior convictions. Within 6 weeks of the enactment of the new law, CACJ conducts 6 "Three Strikes" seminars throughout the state, and publishes a companion syllabus to assist attorneys representing clients in "Three Strikes" cases.

The CACJ Foundation provides a $5,000 grant to the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice for a study on the effects of the new "Three Strikes" law.

The State Bar Board of Governors adopts CACJ's Standards for the Appointment and Performance of Counsel in Death Penalty Cases.• In his first President’s column in the FORUM, CACJ President James S. Thomson predicts that the Supreme Court’s new "flat-fee" system in capital cases will exacerbate the court’s difficulty in finding qualified counsel to accept appointment in appeal and state habeas. CACJ's Amicus Committee, headed by John Philipsborn, files briefs in a number of important cases, including those where public defenders were held in contempt or threatened with contempt for refusal to represent clients in cases where there was a conflict of interest with other defender clients; a case where the district attorney accepted funds from private parties for ancillary services where the private parties had an interest in the prosecution; and "Three Strikes" cases.

CACJ supports the ballot initiative that will place public members on the Commission on Judicial Performance, and further open the process by which judges are disciplined. CACJ opposes the anti-affirmative action initiative, and a proposed rule that will limit attorney comment on pending cases, even if the attorney is not representing one of the parties in the case.

Larry Gibbs becomes editor of FORUM, replacing CACJ President-Elect Anne E. Fragasso, who had served as editor for 11 years.

CACJ moves back to Los Angeles from its office in Culver City.

The CACJ Board of Governors adopts new Bylaws. Article IV sets out CACJ's specific purposes:

1. to defend the rights of persons as guaranteed by the United States Constitution, the Constitution of the State of California and other applicable law;
2. to preserve due process and equal protection of the law for the benefit of all persons;
3. to enhance the ability of its members to discharge their professional responsibilities through educational programs, publications and mutual assistance; and
4. to protect and foster the independence of the criminal defense lawyer and to improve the quality of the administration of justice.

CACJ becomes a plaintiff in a suit challenging the Los Angeles and Santa Monica police practice of questioning suspects "outside" Miranda. The suit is filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and USC's Post-Conviction Law Project.

Declaring that he had committed a "serious ethical offense", CACJ asks the Commission on Judicial Performance to discipline Chief Justice Malcolm Lucas for his endorsement of Attorney General Dan Lungren’s candidacy for governor.

The first commemorative program book is published in conjunction with CACJ's Significant Contributions to Criminal Justice Award. Tributes and ads honor award winners Patrick Hallinan, John Keker and Jan Little. A special President's Award is presented to the Simpson defense team.

CACJ endorses the ballot initiative that would permit the use of marijuana for medical purposes. CACJ opposes any attempt, whether by ballot initiative or legislation, to weaken or eliminate affirmative action.

In a tremendous victory for justice and for our clients, CACJ saves unanimous jury verdicts. An attempt to qualify a non-unanimous jury verdicts initiative for the ballot is withdrawn; the Assembly Judiciary Committee kills a 10-2 verdicts bill, and the Judicial Council decides to table a recommendation from its own Blue Ribbon Commission that less than unanimous verdicts be permitted. Contributing to the preservation of unanimous jury verdicts was CACJ's first Lobby Day, when members came together in Sacramento to meet with leadership and members of the Senate and Assembly. CACJ also defeated attempts to eliminate peremptory challenges, to "reform" state death penalty appeals, state habeas and juvenile cases, and to further restrict judges’ discretion in "Three Strikes" cases.

Represented pro bono by CACJ Past President Robert Berke, CACJ files a taxpayer suit against the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, charging that its destruction of felony case records is an abuse of taxpayer dollars. A Superior Court judge issues a preliminary injunction barring the destruction of DA felony case records.

Responding to the tough restrictions on habeas corpus in a new Federal law, CACJ conducts Habeas Corpus seminars in Northern and Southern California for 180 participants within weeks of the passage of the new law.

CACJ contributes $1,000 to help fund a new NACDL Death Penalty Resource Counsel housed at the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta, GA.

CACJ wins a second preliminary injunction against the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, banning it from destroying misdemeanor case files. The CACJ Foundation announces the formation of the 2400 Club, to raise funds to support important impact litigation like the suit against the DA’s office.

Amicus briefs are filed in cases involving police questioning in violation of Miranda, the retroactivity of the habeas provisions in the 1996 Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, limitations on discovery, the right to a jury trial in juvenile felonies, and ineffective assistance of counsel.

A new CACJ Immigration Law and Practice Committee is created to help educate the membership about the immigration consequences of criminal cases. CACJ is instrumental in the failure of bills that would permit anonymous juries, seal search warrant affidavits, and "reform" the juvenile system and state habeas corpus. A new Habeas Resource Center will be headed by a director selected by an independent Board of Directors (instead of by the Governor) thanks to CACJ.

CACJ celebrates its 25th Anniversary. Past Presidents join other members at a gala reception following John Keker’s presentation of the Charles R. Garry Memorial Lecture. Michael E. Tigar, the Kaczynski defense team and Susan McDougal are honored during CACJ's 25th Anniversary Seminar. McDougal is presented with CACJ's first Profiles in Courage Award for her refusal to be intimidated into testifying before the Whitewater grand jury.

CACJ launches two DUI seminars - one each in Northern and Southern California. CACJ publishes a new edition of the Contempt Defense Manual, and CACJ and CPDA publish a new edition of the Death Penalty Defense Manual.

CACJ and other groups defeat repressive juvenile "justice" legislation, and begin the effort to defeat a juvenile "justice" initiative sponsored by lame-duck Governor Pete Wilson. CACJ also helps to kill a bill that would eliminate any voluntary intoxication defense.

Amicus briefs are filed in cases challenging the legality of the psychiatric return process conducted by the Board of Prison Terms to incarcerate parolees who cannot be civilly committed, and the practice of Federal prosecutors who require that an accused waive Brady rights as part of a plea agreement. Kathleen Kahn becomes the editor of CACJ's FORUM magazine.