Category Archives: #courts

Tough prosecutor

Posted on May 16, 2007 by lmharnisch

  May 16, 1957 Los Angeles While L. Ewing Scott uses every possible ploy to delay his extradition from Michigan, the district attorney’s office has appointed top prosecutor J. Miller Leavy to handle the case. Leavy has just finished the … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, Caryl Chessman, Homicide | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Tough prosecutor

Hollywood madam

Posted on May 15, 2007 by lmharnisch

May 15, 1957 Los Angeles The papers called her an actress, but she was never in anything but trouble and her only talent was for raising hell. Even the gossip magazines quit working with her because they didn’t trust her. … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, Hollywood, Paul Coates | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Confidential: Tells the Facts and Names the Names

Posted on May 14, 2007 by lmharnisch

May 14, 1957: Liberace testifies before the Los Angeles County Grand Jury about Confidential magazine. Page 1 The continuation, Page 5

Posted in #courts | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Ed, she shot me

Posted on May 12, 2007 by lmharnisch

  May 12, 1957 Redondo Beach After a night of drinking, Mabel N. Donnells returned home about 2:30 a.m. Her husband, Robert, who had also gone out drinking–but not with her–came home about the same time and they began arguing. … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, 1957 | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Ed, she shot me

Abortion

Posted on May 11, 2007 by lmharnisch

  May 11, 1957 Los Angeles Felicitas Sena, born Dec. 19, 1936, in Texas, died May 10, 1957, as the result of septic poisoning from an illegal abortion. In a deathbed interview at General Hospital with Sheriff’s Detectives Charles W. … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts | Tagged , | Comments Off on Abortion

I didn’t mean to kill him

Posted on May 10, 2007 by lmharnisch

  May 10, 1957 Malibu Four years after his father was killed by a madman,  USC premed student Patrick Quinn died during what had been a playful gunfight with the younger brother of his girlfriend when they went to shoot … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on I didn’t mean to kill him

Arson in Norwalk

Posted on May 10, 2007 by lmharnisch

    May 10, 1957 Norwalk First comes love, then comes marriage, then come two children and lots and lots of diapers for Nancy Joyce Stoner, 20, and her husband, Eugene, 31. Married at 16 after graduating from La Puente … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Arson in Norwalk

Liberace sues Confidential

Posted on May 8, 2007 by lmharnisch

May 8, 1957 Los Angeles Promising nothing less than the destruction of Confidential magazine, Liberace filed a $20-million libel suit over an article in the July issue titled “Why Liberace’s Theme Song Should be ‘Mad About the Boy.’ ” The … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, #gays and lesbians | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Liberace sues Confidential

Drug raid

Posted on May 6, 2007 by lmharnisch

May 6, 1957 Los Angeles Saundra died Jan. 11, 1978, 40 years after she dazzled concert-goers as a child prodigy on the violin, like her mother, Frances. In her lifetime, she performed at the Hollywood Bowl with Leopold Stokowski and … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, Harbor Division, Hollywood | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Drug raid

Unruly son

Posted on May 5, 2007 by lmharnisch

May 5, 1957 Los Angeles Life is miserable for the Bernstein family, 2499 Coolidge Ave. Nathan, 56, and his wife, Sadie, 43, work hard at an aircraft plant as they try to raise their three children. One son is in … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Unruly son

Cop held in bribery

Posted on May 3, 2007 by lmharnisch

May 3, 1957 Santa Monica Thomas Alfred Gates, 33, a chef at a Santa Monica restaurant, approached The Times with a story. Gates, who was charged with grand theft, said that during a recess in his preliminary hearing, Detective Curtis … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Old convict

Posted on May 2, 2007 by lmharnisch

May 2, 1957 Los Angeles Police officers had a kindly affection for old "Toothpick Charlie." At 93, the dapper, neatly dressed man known as James J. Fitzpatrick, James Hennesy and James Flannery had been  working his cons since before they … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, Downtown | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Jealousy slaying

Posted on May 2, 2007 by lmharnisch

May 2, 1957 Los Angeles Meet Henry C. “Clay” Hamby, 42, who lived with his wife, Mildred, and three children in a 944-square-foot home at 14519 Paddock St., in Sylmar. Clay is a drophammer operator at Reylon Precision Products, a … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, Homicide, San Fernando Valley | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Jealousy slaying

Voices

Posted on April 24, 2007 by lmharnisch

Note: Ulrich K. Quast, an auto salesman who took L. Ewing Scott and his wife, Evelyn, for a test drive along Mulholland in 1955, was probably the last person who saw her alive aside from her killer. As far as … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, Homicide | Comments Off on Voices

The bad dream

Posted on April 23, 2007 by lmharnisch

April 23, 1957 Los Angeles "It’s like a bad dream," he said. "You keep thinking you’ll awaken and find it’s a bad dream." Edward Simon Wein, given five death sentences under California’s "Little Lindbergh Law" for a series of kidnappings … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, Caryl Chessman, Homicide, Long Beach, San Fernando Valley, Venice Division | 3 Comments

Cross purposes

Posted on April 21, 2007 by lmharnisch

April 21, 1957 Los Angeles Although Easter has passed in 2007, it has just arrived in 1957. One way Los Angeles marked Easter weekend was by arranging the lights in City Hall so that they formed a cross. I’ll apologize … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, City Hall | 1 Comment

Confidential tells the facts and names the names

Posted on April 19, 2007 by lmharnisch

April 19, 1957 Los Angeles Jerry Giesler, one of the most prominent attorneys in Los Angeles, was chosen to lead the war against Confidential magazine during a meeting of the Beverly Hills Bar Assn. at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Giesler, … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, Hollywood | Comments Off on Confidential tells the facts and names the names

Twice Burned

Posted on April 5, 2007 by lmharnisch

April 5, 1957Los Angeles By Larry Harnisch They were a six-pack of juiceheads, daddy-o. Human-torched by lowlifes that wildfired the imagination of young, L.A. bike-roaming James Ellroy, demon dogging the pulp novel city in type-O scarlet and memory napalm.   … Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, Homicide, LAPD | Tagged , | 18 Comments