The Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center (formerly known as the Criminal Courts Building) is the
county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
criminal
courthouse in downtown
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
, California, United States. It is located at 210 West Temple Street, between Broadway and Spring Street.
Originally known as the Criminal Courts Building, in 2002 it was renamed the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, after
Clara S. Foltz, the first female lawyer on the
west coast of the United States
The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, and the western seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S ...
(and also the first person to propose the creation of a
public defender's office).
The building houses the main offices of the
Los Angeles County Public Defender.
Notable trials
*
Richard Ramirez
Ricardo "Richard" Leyva Muñoz Ramirez (; February 29, 1960 – June 7, 2013), dubbed the Night Stalker, the Valley Intruder (as his attacks were first clustered in the San Gabriel Valley), and the Walk-in Killer was an American serial kil ...
murder trial
*
O. J. Simpson murder trial
*
Phil Spector
Harvey Phillip Spector (born Harvey Philip Spector; December 26, 1939January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter, best known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s, followed decades later by ...
murder trial
*
Helen Golay and Olga Rutterschmidt – 2008 murder trial
*
Lonnie Franklin Jr. aka The Grim Sleeper serial killer trial
*
BART Police shooting of Oscar Grant
Oscar Grant III was a 22-year-old African-American man who was killed in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2009 by BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle in Oakland, California. Responding to reports of a fight on a crowded Bay Area Rapid ...
murder trial
* Trial of
Dr. Conrad Murray for the
death of Michael Jackson
On June 25, 2009, American singer Michael Jackson died of acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication at his home on North Carolwood Drive in the Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. His physician, Conrad Murray, said tha ...
*
Harvey Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein (; born March 19, 1952) is an American former film producer and convicted sex offender. He and his brother, Bob Weinstein, co-founded the entertainment company Miramax, which produced several successful independent films includ ...
for
his sexual assault trials
*Trial of
Ron Jeremy
Ronald Jeremy Hyatt (born March 12, 1953) is an American former pornographic actor.
Nicknamed "The Hedgehog", Jeremy was ranked by AVN at No. 1 in their "50 Top Porn Stars of All Time" list. Jeremy has also made a number of non-pornographic m ...
for sexual assault.
*Trial of
Tory Lanez
Daystar Shemuel Shua Peterson (born July 27, 1992), known professionally as Tory Lanez, is a Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter, and convicted felon. He received initial recognition from the mixtape ''Conflicts of My Soul: The 416 Story'', rel ...
for shooting at
Megan Thee Stallion.
*Trial of
ASAP Rocky
Rakim Athelaston Mayers (born October 3, 1988), known professionally as ASAP Rocky ( ; stylized as A$AP Rocky), is an American rapper, music producer and record executive. Born and raised in Harlem, he embarked on his musical career as a membe ...
for assault with a deadly weapon.
*Trial of
Eric Weinberg
Eric Weinberg (born 1959/1960) is an American television producer and screenwriter best known for his work on the television series ''Scrubs (TV series), Scrubs''.
Biography
Weinberg is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of P ...
for sexual assault.
*
Danny Masterson
Daniel Peter Masterson (born March 13, 1976) Most sources give birth date March 13, 1976. FilmReference.com gives March 3, 1976. is an American actor. He played the roles of Steven Hyde in '' That '70s Show'' (1998–2006), Milo Foster in ''Men ...
for his rape charges.
Security measures
High-profile trials are held on the ninth floor of the building, with a secondary screening area in addition to the main screening at the ground floor level.
The eighth and tenth floors are inaccessible from the public elevators and stairwells.
References
Further reading
* {{cite book, last=McDevitt, first=Ray, title=Courthouses of California: an Illustrated History, year=2001, publisher=
California Historical Society
The California Historical Society (CHS) is the official historical society of California. It was founded in 1871, by a group of prominent Californian intellectuals at Santa Clara University. It was officially designated as the Californian state ...
, location=Berkeley, CA, isbn=1-890771-49-X, pages=365 pp, no-pp=yes, author2=
Ronald M. George
Ronald Marc George (born March 11, 1940) is an American jurist. He previously served as the 27th Chief Justice of California from 1996 to 2011. Governor of California, Governor Pete Wilson appointed George as an associate justice of the Supreme Co ...
,
Chief Justice of California
The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sac ...
(Forward)
External links
Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice CenterOffices of the Los Angeles County Public Defender
Courthouses in California
Buildings and structures in Downtown Los Angeles
Civic Center, Los Angeles
Government buildings in Los Angeles
Skyscraper office buildings in Los Angeles
Government buildings completed in 1972
1972 establishments in California
1970s architecture in the United States