Kline Case Tossed by Court

by Rachanee Srisavasdi
Originally published by The Irvine World News , July 3, 2003

Molestation charges against former Judge Ronald Kline, an Irvine resident, were to be dismissed Wednesday, July 2, the second Orange County case thrown out by the U.S. Supreme Court's ban on the prosecution of old sex crimes.

Kline's attorney, Paul Meyer, said he will ask a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to drop the case. Orange County Deputy District Attorney Sheila Hanson said she won't object.

District Attorney Tony Rackauckas called it "distressing" that charges that Kline molested a 14-year-old boy in Irvine in 1979 have to be dismissed.

"A young boy at the time was victimized, and he carried it around with him for years before finding the courage to report it," Rackauckas said. The court "has erased his hopes for justice."

The high court nullified a 1994 California law that eliminated the statute of limitations on some sex crimes.

Rachanee Srisavasdi is a staff writer for the Orange County Register.