Joyce Karlin
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Judge Joyce A. Karlin is a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge who hears felony criminal cases at the county courthouse in downtown Los Angeles.
She began her legal career a highly respected U.S. attorney who helped develop and prosecute some of the government's most important drug cases--among them the case against defendants in the kidnapping, torture, and murder of U.S. drug agent Enrique Camerena. She also prosecuted child pornography cases.
In March 1991, Soon Ja Du, a Korean-American immigrant grocer shot and killed Latasha Harlins, an African American teenager. The incident started when Du had incorrectly assumed that Harlins was stealing a bottle of orange juice. A physical confrontation between the two then ensued before Du shot her.
In the criminal trial that ensued, People v. Soon Ja Du, a jury convicted the grocer of voluntary manslaughter, recommending twelve years in prison. It was then left to Karlin, a newly appointed judge to impose the sentence.
Karlin -- having decided that Du was not a "career criminal" and considering that the grocer and her family had been threatened often at their store -- did not send her to jail. Instead, she imposed a suspended sentence with probation, a fine, and several hundred hours of community service.
Karlin’s decision was met with profound dismay and protest from the African American community and inflamed the existing tension between Korean American merchants and African American community activists.
Despite the fact that Judge Karlin's decision, along with the beating of Rodney King, had precipitated the 1992 Los Angeles riots, Judge Karlin was elected in spring 1992 to California's Superior Court. This election result was due in part to the high level of media attention she had received in the wake of her contested ruling. She received 51% of the vote, soundly defeating Bob Henry and three other candidates. Since that time Judge Karlin has withstood attempts made for a recall of her election, and cries for her ban by the California bar have abated.
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