Edit by Phil Rice
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Leopodo Sanchez receiving an award
Leopodo Sanchez
Los Angeles County Superior
Court Judge
One Sunday night in the summer of 1961, I was cruising down Whittier Blvd. in East Los Angeles listening to some R & B when I saw a red light in my rearview mirror. The cops were pulling me over. For what, I didn’t know. I pulled over to the curb and waited for the Man to come give me a ticket.
“Driver’s license and car registration please.”
I handed the cop both license and registration, and as I did so I said, “careful with the license. Just got it back a couple of weeks ago.”
“You just got it back?” the cop asked me.
“Yeah.”
“Why did you just get them back?” he wanted to know.
“Well my license was suspended for awhile,” I said.
“How long of awhile?” the cop shot back at me. “Were you driving
while your license was suspended?”
“No sir,” I said.
“Are you sure? Do you have any warrants?”
“No sir,” I said again.
“Well let’s find out.” The cop went back to his car, got on the radio and ran a make on me. After a few minutes he came back and told me to put my hands on the hood of the car. Damn! Going to jail on a beautiful summer night. The only good thing was that it was on a Sunday night, because Monday morning we'd get to see the judge.
I was taken to the East Los Angeles Sheriff sub-station on Third Street to spend the night. Monday morning came and I with a few others was taken to the courthouse to see the judge. Some of us were taken into Judge Leopoldo Sanchez's courtroom. Sanchez had a reputation as the most lenient judge in E.L.A, anybody and everybody who had a case pending in the E.L.A courthouse wanted to go in front of Judge Sanchez. Lucky me, I also knew the Judge from the Olympic Auditorium as he was a big boxing fan. I would see him there every Thursday night. Now and then I would talk to him at the Olympic, but I never introduced myself so he didn’t know my name.
Judge Sanchez started hearing cases, and after two or three cases he calls, “Frank Baltazar, case number XXXX.”
“Yes, Your Honor,” I answered.
“You are charged with driving with a suspended license, how do you plea?"
“Guilty, Your Honor.”
“OK, a ten-dollar fine. Can you pay it?”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
“OK, sit down,” the judge told me.
I sat. The judge called the next case, “Frank Baltazar, case number XXXX.”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
“Oh, it’s you again. Let's see what you are charged with this time.”
“I think it’s the same thing Your Honor. Driving with a suspended license.”
“Yes it is, and how do you plea?”
“Guilty Your Honor.”
“I’m going to have to fine you twenty-five dollars on this one. Can you pay it?”
“Yes, Your Honor,” I answered again.
“OK, sit down.” I sat. The judge called his next case, “Frank Baltazar case XXXX."
“Yes, Your Honor.”
“You again? Same charge. How many warrants did you have?” the judge asked me.
“Three Your Honor. This should be the last one.”
“OK, I fined you ten dollars on the first one and twenty-five on the second one. On the third one I’m going to have to fine you seventy-five dollars. Can you pay it?”
“Your Honor, I can pay the first two now, but I can’t pay the last one.” I told the judge.
“OK, pay the thirty-five dollars by 5:00 PM today and I’ll give you three months to pay the seventy-five dollars at twenty-five dollars a month”
“Thank you, Your Honor. I can do that, but I need to go home to get the thirty-five dollars.” The judge then told the bailiff to let me go home to get the money. I ran all the way home, which wasn’t more than two miles from my house, got a ride with a friend back to the courthouse, paid the thirty-five dollars, put the receipt in my wallet, and then went to get my car out of the tow yard, which cost me another fifty bucks.
I then paid three payments of twenty-five a month for the next three months. I saved the receipts just in case. I ran into the judge at the fights a couple of times and he asked me if I was paying the fine. “Yes sir,” I told him.
A few months later after I had made my last payment I got pulled over in Montebello. The cops ran a make on me and it turned out I had a warrant with a nine-dollar bail, so I was taken to the Montebello Police department. From there I called Connie to come bail me out and told her to make sure she brought nine dollars.
I left the Montebello Police station with a date to see the judge. I went to see Judge Sanchez on the date I was given. When he called my name he was one pissed off judge. “I gave you a chance to pay the seventy-five dollar fine in three months and you didn’t.”
“But sir! I did pay the seventy-five dollars.”
“You did?”
“Yes and I have the receipts with me.”
“Give them to the bailiff.” I gave them to the bailiff and he passed them on to the judge. After he read the receipts he told me, “but you didn’t pay the other three dollars.”
“What other three dollars Your Honor?”
"For every twenty-five dollars you pay one dollar for processing," he told me. I then told him that he told me to pay twenty-five dollars a month, which I did and I had the receipts to prove it. “Case dismissed,” said the judge.
“Your Honor, what about my nine dollars for the bail?”
“Oh, you’ll get that back in the mail in about a month." About three weeks later I got my nine dollars back and Connie took it away from me. Said it was her money. Just can’t get any respect!..
