Judge Who Freed Pratt Known for Independence

SANTA ANA — Attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. says he and his colleagues cringed when they learned that the case of former Black Panther leader Elmer “Geronimo” Pratt was being transferred to Orange County.

The dominant perception in Los Angeles, Cochran says, is that judges and juries in Orange County deliver assembly-line justice and are hostile to minorities.

But Pratt’s case landed in the courtroom of Superior Court Judge Everett W. Dickey, praised by many colleagues as a top jurist. Dickey overturned Pratt’s 1972 conviction of murdering a schoolteacher, and last week he freed Pratt on bail.

In nearly three decades on the bench, the 62-year-old judge has never shied ‘from dropping judicial bombshells.

In a case that inflamed racial tensions in Orange County, Dickey sentenced two Latino youths convicted of spearing a white San Clemente teenager through the head with a paint roller to less than seven years in a juvenile facility. The prosecutor and victim’s family had demanded a sentence of 15 years to life in a tougher state prison, and the case sparked a 1994 recall drive against the judge.

Dickey also did not flinch when he cited jury misconduct and nullified the conviction of a confessed child killer, acknowledging that his ruling would probably cause “extreme community revulsion.”

The reversal of Pratt’s murder conviction reverberated across the nation, but it didn’t cause a ripple among people who know Dickey well. Since 1970, he has earned a reputation as a fiercely independent jurist who is not afraid to follow the law--even at the risk of causing great public outcry.

Many expect him to follow the same standard when he sentences Orange County’s former assistant treasurer, Matthew R. Raabe, for misappropriating public funds and securities fraud violations arising from the county’s 1994 bankruptcy.

Raabe’s sentencing in August on five felony convictions will be one of Dickey’s final acts before he retires later this year.

“He’s ruthlessly fair,” said Deputy Orange County Dist. Atty. Christopher Evans, who has tried several murder cases before Dickey. “Only someone who’s well-prepared and has truth on his side has an edge in Judge Dickey’s courtroom.”

Lawyers say that even though Dickey has made many gutsy rulings, he will forever be remembered as the judge with the fortitude to free Pratt. The ruling is a fitting exit for Dickey, who was appointed to Orange County Municipal Court by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan in April 1970--the same year Pratt was convicted of killing teacher Caroline Olsen on a Santa Monica tennis court.

Pratt has steadfastly denied that he was the killer and says that the FBI knows that he is innocent because agents had him under surveillance in Oakland at the time.

Dickey was the first judge to grant a full review on Pratt’s contention that Los Angeles prosecutors withheld crucial evidence that would have undermined the credibility of the state’s witnesses.

Shortly after he was released on bail Tuesday, Pratt said he saw some irony in being freed by a Reagan appointee in traditionally conservative Orange County.

“I feel so good about Judge Dickey,” Pratt said, “a man standing on his own principles and doing what’s right.”

Dickey was expected to retire at the end of this month, but he has been asked to stay on indefinitely to handle motions that may follow Los Angeles Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti’s decision to appeal the reversal of Pratt’s murder conviction.

Times staff writer Edward J. Boyer contributed to this story.