- Edward Rafeedie
Edward Rafeedie (
January 6 ,1929 –March 25 ,2008 ) was a judge of theUnited States District Court for the Central District of California . He was appointed by PresidentRonald Reagan in 1982.Rafeedie was born to
Palestinian immigrants in Orange,New Jersey . His family moved to Santa Monica when he was seven years old. He lived for a while inPalestine before moving back toCalifornia .After graduating from Venice High School, Rafeedie traveled the carnival circuit with a portable electric horse-race game called Derby. He then served in the U.S. Army during the
Korean War .After leaving the Army, Rafeedie enrolled at the
University of Southern California . He graduated with abachelor's degree in law in 1957, and two years later graduated from theUniversity of Southern California Law School . He then worked in private practice until he was appointed as a Municipal Court judge in 1969 by California Governor Ronald Reagan. In 1969, Governor Reagan elevated him to the Superior Court, where he served a total of 11 years.During his tenure on the Superior Court, Rafeedie presided over several high-profile civil cases, including the contested conservatorship of
Groucho Marx , theBritt Ekland andRod Stewart palimony trial and part of theBob Dylan divorce case. He also sentenced the daredevilEvel Knievel to jail for attacking a television executive with a baseball bat. Rafeedie was also known for his calendar management of cases and his concern of efficient management of trials.In 1982, Rafeedie was appointed to the federal bench by President Reagan. His most controversial case was in 1990, when he ruled that the kidnapping of Dr.
Humberto Alvarez Machain was illegal and ordered his repatriated toMexico . Alvarez Machain was accused of aiding drug traffickers in the 1985 torturing and killing of Enrique "Kiki" Camarena, who was aDrug Enforcement Agency agent. Because the DEA had paid a group of Mexican citizens to kidnap him in Mexico and fly him to the United States to stand trial, Rafeedie ruled that the kidnapping was a violation of the United States-Mexicoextradition treaty . The ruling stunned the Justice Department and angered government agents. However, the U.S. Supreme Court later overruled his decision, holding that the extradition treaty did not prohibit kidnapping. Immediately thereafter, a large number of countries holding treaties with the United States demanded that their treaties be amended, adding anti-kidnapping language.Rafeedie died from
cancer onMarch 25 ,2008 at the age of 79.External links
* [http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-rafeedie30mar30,1,1052360.story Obituary] from the "
Los Angeles Times "
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