Well, things were going OK, living in Northridge, commuting to downtown LA with a good bunch of sharing car-poolers: Steve Crossman, who I mentioned earlier- the guy who successfully took over my jury trial with closing argument when I was stationed in Santa Monica and who lived in the Valley in Conoga Park, Ron Einstoss, an LA Times reporter who covered the courts, ( Ron was a big guy who played tackle for a Nevada football team,) and Dave Aisenson, a deputy DA living in Reseda. David eventually ran for, and was elected, to be a Superior Court Judge, and was a good friend of mine at the time who lived very close to my house. Generally speaking, the commute was at least one hour each way, based on the condition of traffic, but it was not so bad, as we had plenty of time for conversation and civic center gossip. At this time, things were pretty routine: Court every day, negotiating with defense attorneys, settling some cases, and if a case was not worked out, then off to trial. Some major cases at the time interspersed with the run-of-the-mill felonies. Still living way out in the Valley among the new developments and existing horse ranches. (Robert Taylor, then a leading man star and his wife Barbara Stanwick who was on television in the “Big Valley” series had a horse ranch just off of Reseda Blvd near where I was living.) Times change, and today the area is wall to wall homes. Used to take our one-year-old on a 5 day vacation at a beach town called Carpenteria just south of Santa Barbara with Lew Watnick and Aaron Stovitz sharing a little modest beach house. Aaron Stovitz, like Lew Watnik, was a brilliant attorney from New York City and, like many New Yorkers at the time, rubbed local Californians the wrong way. He was brash, but very good and was assigned to be partnered with Vince Bugliosi to try the Charles Manson murder conspiracy case, which became very famous and was written about in a best seller called “Helter Skelter.” (Vince sent me a signed copy of the book after it was published.) Anyway, Aaron eventually was off the case and Bugliosi prosecuted it by himself, and did a great job convicting all the charged defendants, and they also all received the death penalty, but because the death penalty as written at the time was not restrictive as I have mentioned earlier, all the defendants’ sentences were later reduced to life. I mention Bugliosi, as I have a memory of meeting him earlier. My office was on the 6th floor of the Hall of Justice in downtown LA. Just outside of my office were metal cabinets containing printed out jury instructions the Courts were required to read and give to a jury. Each drawer in the cabinet contained printed instructions, starting with the jury’s duties, reasonable doubt, up through the definition of evidence, including circumstantial evidence and the definition of the specific crime charged and concluding with how the jury should deliberate, make a finding of either guilt or acquittal, i.e. not guilty, and so forth. One day, I walked out of my office, and I saw a young guy whom I did not recognize as belonging on the 6th floor, going over the jury stacks “What are you doing here on this floor?” I asked and he replied “I am a new deputy DA assigned to the 5th floor, and I want to prepare myself for when I get into the trial department.” Blew my mind! In all the years, I never saw anyone not assigned to the 6th floor,including me, prepare for eventual promotion. No wonder Vince became one of the most famous DAs to emerge from that LA DA Office.
I was mentioning Carpenteria and summer vacation which brings a few more things to my mind. First, on one of my cases, I was stuck in trial, but the wife and son were ready to go and get out of the summer heat of Northridge, so we went, except I had to commute each day during the trial from LA to Carpenteria and back, which left me at arrival for dinner and a quick breakfast to return. The trip was about two and one half hours to three each way. My wife was pregnant with my daughter, Julia, at the time. BTW, Julia edits this log and does a magnificent job Both my kids are remarkable, and I will get to them in future blogs. I should mention, getting back to Aaron, he was one hell of a guy. The Stovitzes had a young daughter who tragically and very unfortunately became ill with leukemia and shortly before her teenage years, passed away. I don’t know where a parent gets the strength to cope with such tragedy but somehow God gave them and the child to live through such horrible things. Aaron and his wife did, and I believe conceived their next child during one of our summers at the beach.
Well, one day, while living in the Valley, trying to cope with the heat, my father-in-law, who at that time had moved to LA and was working for a food supply company, worked out a weekend away at a hotel in Laguna Beach, where he sold his products. My daughter was just born and we had a baby nurse available, so Maxine, my son, Douglas, and I took advantage of about the only thing my father-in-law (Maurice ) ever did for me, his grandkids, or his daughter (except the car as a wedding present,) and we took it.
Laguna was great, cool and alive, and Maxine wondered if it was possile to live by the water and commute to LA for work. I checked, and it was. Max checked the paper for rent ads, and came across one in Newport Beach located on a small island in Balboa Bay called Lido Island. A small structure on Via Ithaca with three bedrooms, two baths, and an upstairs play room, a really very neat residence. She answered the ad, got a key to the house, we drove down, and looked at the place. We could afford the rent, so we took it and made plans to move which eventally was the beginning of a very successful private practice.
More to come
BTW, I am still a baby when it comes to the Internet, and noted some readers have sent me messages which I haven’t figured out how to respond to. I will see my daughter soon and maybe she or her kids can help me, but one can reach me at lawmarsh@aol.com and we can chat. Just say “your blog” and I will love to chat.
Best to all,
Marshall
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