Metropolitan News-Enterprise

 

Thursday, February 4, 2010

 

Page 3

 

U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn Turchin of Central District to Retire

 

By a MetNews Staff Writer

 

U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn Turchin of the Central District of California will retire May 1, the MetNews has learned.

Turchin, who turns 65 next month, was appointed a magistrate judge in 1991, and subsequently served as chief magistrate judge for more than four years. Prior to her appointment, she was a civil litigator and an assistant U.S. attorney.

Her assignments at the U.S. Attorney’s Office included serving as deputy chief of criminal complaints and deputy chief for the Training Section. Before becoming a lawyer, she pursued a career in public school teaching for 10 years, and also was a probation officer.

Turchin, who could not be reached for comment, received her undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley, a lifetime teaching credential from Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education, and her law degree from Loyola Law School.

As a magistrate judge, Turchin handled a number of high-profile matters at the arraignment and bail-setting stages. She received national publicity last November when she set bail at $100,000 and ordered house arrest and Internet and telephone use restrictions for Michael Barrett.

Prosecutors said Barrett, a Chicago-area man who later pled guilty to crossing state lines in order to stalk ESPN reporter Erin Andrews, surreptitiously shot videos of Andrews in the nude through peepholes in hotel rooms in Nashville, Tenn., Columbus, Ohio, and Milwaukee, Wis., and posted the footage on the Internet after trying to sell it to a celebrity website.

Turchin imposed the restrictive release conditions after Andrews’ attorney claimed Barrett had stalked other women in a similar manner. Barrett is due to be sentenced next month and faces a maximum of five years in prison, although Sentencing Guidelines call for less than half that.

 

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