Perhaps no U. S. judge in the 1990s was more widely recognized than California Superior Court Judge Lance A. Ito. Presiding over the criminal trial of O.J. Simpson in 1995, the 44-year old Ito became a household name. Millions of Americans tuned in to television broadcasts of the sometimes fiery, and seemingly endless, 266-day murder trial. Ito, who formerly had enjoyed accolades in his career, became the subject of widespread criticism for his handling of the trial, especially for its circus atmosphere.

Born in Los Angeles in 1950, Ito was the son of Japanese American school teachers. His parents had met as prisoners in an internment camp in Wyoming, victims of the United States' imprisonment of over 100,000 Japanese Americans during World War II. Their story--of lives uprooted and careers ruined--made a deep impression on Ito who completed his undergraduate studies at the University of California at Los Angeles and...