Tuesday, November 8, 2005
Page 3
Courthouse Hall to Be Named in Honor of Arabian
By Jim Riggio, Staff Writer
Los Angeles County Supevisor Michael D. Antonovich has announced the dedication of the reception hall at the Chatsworth branch of the Los Angeles Superior Court in honor of former state Supreme Court Justice Armand Arabian, a longtime San Fernando Valley resident.
The event will take place Dec. 11 at 2p.m., in which the hall will be named the Justice Armand Arabian Reception Hall. Located at the corner of Winnetka Ave. and Plummer St., the 200,000 square foot courthouse opened June 3, 2002. It contains 18 courtrooms.
The 75,000 square-foot reception hall feature a lobby exhibit containing much of Justice Arabian’s memorabilia that he compiled during a 24-year stint as a judge.
Arabian told the MetNews he hopes his judicial memorabilia will be of interest to whose who walk through the courthouse.
“[There will be] six bond volumns of my opinions which I got from the publisher, a commentamative gavel used in the Superior Court days, photographs with Chief Justice Rehnquist and Governor Deukmajian, pictures of the court itself in session and volumns of Who’s Who in American law and Who’s Who in the World,’’ Arabian said. “Those are some of the things that might inspire the youth who walk in there. I’m going to put the original Ellis Island Medal of Honor in the showcase.’’
Arabian, who served on the California Supreme Court from 1990 to 1996, received the “The Ellis Island Medal of Honor for Making America a Better Place for All of Us,’’ during a 2004 ceremony.
Earlier this year Arabian was honored with the Women of Los Angeles Highlight Award.
He is nationally recognized as a protector of women’s rights, in particular those who have been victims of rape and sexual assault.
He made news in 1973 by rejecting a defense request to give jurors the customary instructions to examine the testimony of female complainants with “caution.” The California Supreme Court later concluded that Arabian should have given the instruction, based on the long line of authority supporting it, but agreed with the judge that the instruction was outmoded and ordered that it not be given in the future.
His work has also contributed to legislation making it easier to prosecute sexual assaults.
Arabian, who was the first Armenian American to sit on the California Supreme Court, is now an attorney and private judge in Van Nuys.
Copyright 2005, Metropolitan News Company