| Judge Delucchi on Peterson trial By Brian Anderson CONTRA COSTA TIMES January 28, 2003 California's top judge has handed the upcoming trial of Scott Lee Peterson to a longtime Alameda County jurist, a man who prosecutors and defense attorneys praised on Tuesday as an intelligent, fair person with heart. Judge Alfred "Al" Delucchi, 73, of Castro Valley, was the second judge to be appointed to the celebrated case in a week. Chief Justice Ronald George removed Judge Richard Arnason, a longtime Contra Costa County judge who also is retired, Thursday after prosecutors used their only challenge to the appointment. News of Delucchi's appointment spread fast in Alameda County's close-knit legal world. He is well known -- and well regarded -- around the courthouses of Hayward, where he currently sits, and Oakland, where he presided over some of the region's most notorious cases "He's a smart guy," said Jon Goodfellow, an Alameda County prosecutor who appeared before Delucchi at a death penalty trial last year. "The thing I always appreciated about him was that he was always prepared for the issues. He knew the law. He made good calls." Goodfellow prosecuted what was expected at the time to be Delucchi's last capital punishment trial. Three San Joaquin Valley men were accused and later convicted of the 1998 slaying of Deputy John Paul Monego outside the Dublin Outback Steakhouse. Pleasanton attorney Harry Traback, who represented Sifuentes, said Delucchi tries to be fair to everyone. "He's experienced, he knows the law, he's tried a lot of these cases and to me he's got a heart," Traback said. "He understands people. From a defense perspective that's good." Traback added that the judge has a knack for finding and eliminating would-be jurors who are "death prone," or overly supportive of the death penalty. It was a skill Peterson's defense team should welcome, he said. "From the perspective of a guy like (Los Angeles attorney) Mark Geragos," Traback said, "(Delucchi's) good for them in terms relative to other (judges) out." Delucchi also is known for handing out harsh rebukes to lawyers who continue down legal paths that he has told them to avoid. "When he makes the ruling, he expects it to be followed," said Jim Anderson, an assistant district attorney who handled the 2001 Thomas Wheelock armored-car murder case. "He got on me a few times, too. And I'm a friend of his." Delucchi retired from the Alameda County Superior Court bench in 1998 but continued to preside over several high-profile death penalty cases until he was reassigned to a Hayward courtroom last year. He kept a spirited pace, usually hearing one death penalty case each year with some running back-to-back. In the fall of 2001, he sentenced Wheelock, a San Ramon man convicted of killing an armored car guard, to life in prison without parole. Earlier that year, in a case he later said was the most disturbing of all his trials, he handed down a life sentence to an Oakland woman who assumed the identity of the sister she dismembered. A clerk at his Hayward courtroom said Delucchi was unavailable for comment Tuesday. Delucchi's first official act as judge will be to preside over a hearing on a defense objection to prosecutors' challenge of Arnason. Geragos said last week that the challenge was too late and that Arnason should be allowed to continue on the case. Lynn Holton, spokeswoman for the state office that facilitates such appointments, said Arnason is technically off the case unless Delucchi rules that the peremptory challenge was improperly made. MODESTO BEE STORY HOME INDEX LACI SCOTT CONNER EVIDENCE-NEWS VENUE CHANGE ALIBI-WITNESS LIST |
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