Archive for August 9th, 2012

More things I did not know.

Thursday, August 9th, 2012

Chain of causality: one of my cow-orkers was bitten by a dog (not seriously) which led to a discussion of The People’s Court (which, when I was watching it, seemed to be dominated by dog and dog-bite cases), which led to a discussion of Judge Marilyn Milan, which in turn led us inevitably to Wapner and Rusty the bailiff.

From the Wikipedia entry on The People’s Court:

Rusty Burrell (1925–2002) was a sheriff’s department court bailiff in several famous Los Angeles trials, the Manson murders, The Onion Field murder, the Patty Hearst/SLA bank robbery, and the Caryl Chessman “Red Light Bandit”. Burrell had previously appeared on TV in the 1950s Divorce Court, and it was also his job at that show to find real attorneys to appear on camera. One of those regular Divorce Court attorneys was Judge Joseph Wapner’s father.

Patty Hearst, Chessman, Manson and the Onion Field? Rusty must have had some great stories to tell.