Stephen Wilson

From Judgepedia

Stephen Victor Wilson is an Article III federal judge for the United States District Court for the Central District of California. He joined the court in 1985 after being nominated by President Ronald Reagan. Wilson is serving on senior status.

Early Life and Education

Born in New York City, Wilson graduated from Lehigh University with his Bachelor's degree in 1963 and received his Juris Doctor degree from Brooklyn Law School in 1967. Wilson obtained a Master of Laws degree, L.L.M., from George Washington University School of Law in 1973.^[1]

Legal Career

Wilson was a Trial Attorney in the Tax Division of the United States Department of Justice from 1968 to 1971, and then served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Central District of California from 1971 to 1977. Wilson was a Chief Prosecutor in the Fraud and Special Prosecutions Section of the U.S. Attorney's Office from 1973 to 1977. Wilson was a private practice attorney in the State of California from 1977 to 1985 and also taught as an Adjunct Professor of Law for Loyola-Marymount Law School from 1975 to 1979. Wilson was Chairman of the Federal Indigent Defense Panel Committee for the District Court in Los Angeles assessing the legal needs of low-income people from 1979 to 1980. Wilson also taught as an Adjunct Professor of Law for the University of San Diego School of Law in 1984.^[1]

Federal Judicial Career

On the recommendation of U.S. Senator Pete Wilson, Wilson was nominated to the United States District Court for the Central District of California by President Ronald Reagan on September 9, 1985 to a new seat created by 98 Stat. 333, which was approved by Congress. Wilson was confirmed by the Senate on October 16, 1985, and received commission on October 17, 1985. Wilson assumed senior status on December 19, 2000. ^[1].

Notable cases

Numero Uno case

Judge Wilson is presiding in the re-trial of Numero Uno CEO George Torres. On September 20, 2009, Torres threw out a majority of the 55 counts that Torres was convicted on in April of 2009 due to tainted testimony. The charges that Wilson threw out included harboring illegal aliens, murder, and racketeering. However, Torres will face a re-trial for harboring illegal aliens and committing tax fraud. ^[2]

Sealed records lawsuit

The Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press filed a motion on August 4, 2009 to ask Judge Wilson to unseal court transcripts in a lawsuit over a Jewish activist who was killed in prison. The motion comes after Judge Wilson sealed the records over a protective order from the Bureau of Prisons that protects the identity of a prisoner. No decision has been made if the court records will be unsealed. ^[3]

References

	v • d • e Federal judges of the United States District Court for the Central District of California
Active judges	Collins • Anderson • Carney • Carter • Fairbank • Feess • Fischer • Gee • Guilford • Gutierrez • King • Klausner • Matz • Morrow • Nguyen • Otero • Phillips • Pregerson • Selna • Snyder • Timlin • Walter • Wright • Wu • Vacancy • Vacancy • Vacancy
Senior judges	Hatter • Kelleher • Keller • Letts • Lew • Marshall • Pfaelzer • Real • Stotler • Takasugi • Wilson
Magistrate judges	Hillman • Abrams • Block • Chapman • Chooljian • Eick • Federman • Goldman • Kenton • Mumm • Nagle • Nakazato • Olguin • Parada • Rosenberg • Segal • Turchin • Walsh • Wistrich • Woehrle • Zarefsky
Former judges	Baird • Bonner • Byrne Jr. • Byrne Sr. • Carr • Clarke • Crary • Curtis • Davies • Ferguson • Fernandez • Firth • Gadbois • Gray • C. Hall • P. Hall • Hauk • Hill • Hupp • Ideman • Kenyon • Larson • Lucas • Lum • Lydick • Manella • McLaughlin • Moreno • Paez • Pregerson • Rafeedie • Rea • Rymer • Schiavelli • Stephens • Tashima • Taylor • Tevrizian • Wardlaw • Waters • Whelan • Williams • Yankwich

	v • d • e Federal judges nominated by Ronald Reagan
1981	Bartlett • Beam • Becker • Bork • Cacheris • Cardamone • Chapman • Coughenour • Cox • Crow • Cyr • Doumar • Eschbach • Forrester • Garwood • Gibson • Glasser • Hall • Hamilton • Head • Jones • Kiser • Krenzler • Lee • Magnuson • McLaughlin • Miner • Moore • Nowlin • O'Connor • Pierce • Posner • Potter • Russell • Ryan • Shabaz • Sprizzo • Stevens • Waters • Wilhoit • Wilkins • Winter
1982	Acker • Acosta • Altimari • Bell • Bissell • Black • Bullock • Caldwell • Coffey • Contie • Coyle • Dowd • Fagg • Fong • Fox • Gadbois • Gibson • Ginsburg • Hart • Higginbotham • Hogan • Irving • Jackson • Jolly • Kanne • Kovachevich • Krupansky • Lynch • Mansmann • McNamara • Mencer • Mentz • Mihm • Moody • Nordberg • Paul • Pieras • Plunkett • Porfilio • Potter • Pratt • Rafeedie • Restani • Roberts • Scalia • Selya • Telesca • Wellford
1983	Baldock • Barbour • Barry • Bowman • Carman • Carter • Curran • Davis • Dorsey • Feldman • Fish • Flaum • Gibbons • Hallanan • Harris • Hinojosa • Hull • Hupp • Katz • Keenan • Kelly • Kram • Laffitte • Limbaugh, Sr. • Limbaugh, Sr. • Milburn • Nesbitt • Nevas • O'Neill • Rymer • Sharp • Starr • Vinson • Vukasin • Wexler • Woods
1984	Barker • Beezer • Biggers • Billings • Bissell • Boyle • Brewster • Browning • DiCarlo • Duhe • Garcia • George • Hall • Hargrove • Higgins • Hill • Holland • Ideman • Jarvis • Keller • Leavy • Lee • Legge • Leisure • Little • Livaudais • Longobardi • McKibben • Milburn • Newman • Norgle • Prado • Rea • Rosenblatt • Rovner • Scirica • Smith, Jr. • Sneeden • Stotler • Suhrheinrich • Torruella • Wiggins • Wilkinson
1985	Alley • Altimari • Anderson • Aquilino • Archer • Arnold • Baldock • Batchelder • Battey • Broomfield • Brown • Brown • Brunetti • Buckley • Cobb • Conmy • Cowen • Davidson • Dimmick • Duff • Easterbrook • Edgar • Farnan • Fernandez • Fitzpatrick • Fuste • Greene • Gunn • Guy • Hall • Hilton • Holderman • Hughes • Johnson • Jones • Korman • Kozinski • La Plata • Leinenweber • Letts • Lovell • Ludwig • Maloney • Mansmann • Marcus • McDonald • Meredith • Miller • Mills • Miner • Motz • Nelson • Noonan • Porfilio • Revercomb • Rhoades • Ripple • Rodriguez • Rosenbaum • Roth • Ryan • Sam • Scott • Sentelle • Silberman • Sporkin • Stanton • Stapleton • Strand • Strom • Tacha • Tevrizian • Thompson • Todd • Tsoucalas • Walker • Walter • Weber • Williams • Wilson • Wingate • Wolf • Wollman • Young • Zloch
1986	Anderson • Boggs • Bryan • Cedarbaum • Cholakis • Conway • Davies • Dearie • Dubina • Duggan • Edmondson • Fawsett • Fitzwater • Gex • Graham • Hackett • Hansen • Henderson • Hittner • Howard • Jensen • Kay • Kleinfeld • Kosik • Lagueux • Lechner • Magill • Mahoney • Manion • McAvoy • McQuade • Norris • O'Scannlain • Rehnquist • Ryskamp • Scalia • Selya • Simpson • Smalkin • Spencer • Stiehl • Wilkins • Williams • Woodlock • Zatkoff
1987	Alesia • Beam • Bell • Conboy • Cowen • Cummings • Daronco • Doty • Dwyer • Ebel • Ellis • Gadola • Gawthrop • Greenberg • Harrington • Howard • Hoyt • Hutchinson • Kanne • Kelly • Larimer • Leavy • Lew • Marsh • Mayer • McKinney • Michel • Mukasey • Musgrave • Niemeyer • Parker • Phillips • Politan • Pro • Raggi • Reasoner • Reed • Scirica • Sentelle • Smith • Smith • Stadtmueller • Standish • Tinder • Torres • Trott • Turner • Van Antwerpen • Voorhees • Webb • Whipple • Wolin • Wolle • Wood • Zagel
1988	Arcara • Babcock • Brorby • Butler • Cambridge • Camp • Conlon • Cox • Dubois • Duhe • Ezra • Forester • Friedman • Garza • Hutton • Jordan • Kennedy • Lake • Lamberth • Lifland • Lozano • Marovich • Nygaard • Patterson • Schell • Smith • Smith • Tilley • Waldman • Zilly