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SANTA ANA (CNS) - Orange County Superior Court Judge Francisco Briseno has died, officials said Friday. He was 85.
In a letter to judges and attorneys in Orange County, Presiding Judge Maria D. Hernandez said Briseno died early Thursday.
Briseno was appointed judge in 1977 by then-Gov. Jerry Brown.
Hernandez added he "became one of the youngest judges in the state and the second Hispanic judge in Orange County."
He was also one of the longest-serving judges in the county's history and even after he retired a decade ago he continued working part-time.
Briseno, who was born in La Puente, served in the U.S. Marine Corps for over three decades, including during the Vietnam War, and was decorated with a Bronze Star and the Joint Service Commendation Medal, Hernandez said.
He was honored with the Orange County Hispanic Bar Association's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010, which was later renamed in his honor.
"Judge Briseno leaves an illustrious legacy not only on our court but also on the broader legal community in Orange County and the California judiciary," Hernandez said. "His legacy is a testament to a remarkable legal career and a profound impact on the lives of many."
Briseno is survived by his two daughters.
Defense attorney Matt Murphy, a former Orange County prosecutor, told City News Service, "The legal community lost a legend. He was a phenomenal judge and an even better man. Everybody is heartbroken."
A highlight of Briseno's career was presiding over the trial of serial killer Rodney Alcala, who Murphy prosecuted. Briseno sentenced Alcala, who died in prison of natural causes, to the death penalty.
The trial got off a bizarre start when Alcala won an appeal to represent himself. He subsequently tried to turn the trial into a circus of sorts as he questioned himself on the stand and played Arlo Guthrie's song "Alice's Restaurant Massacree" as his closing argument.
"There are very few judges who could have handled that case as well as Francisco Briseno," Murphy said. "That trial was a master class in judicial performance. He was patient and incredibly fair to a serial killer."
Murphy recalled how Briseno admonished Alcala for playing the Vietnam War protest song as he recounted his own time in the service.
When Briseno was head of the Orange County District Attorney's Homicide Unit he came up with an innovation that Murphy believes led to successful prosecutions for many years. Briseno put the best and most experienced prosecutors in the unit and then assigned them territories, which cut down on turnover and furthered institutional knowledge of the communities, Murphy said.
"That's one of the reasons Orange County was so successful in homicide prosecutions," Murphy said.
Defense attorney Roger Sheaks said Briseno was known for his even- keeled manner on the bench.
"I never saw him mad. He treated everyone equally," Sheaks said.
Services were pending.