Jerry Giesler was a famous criminal trial lawyer in the 1940s and 50s was was one of the founders of the Los Angeles Criminal Courts Bar Association 55 years ago. The award is named in his memory and recognizes outstanding courtroom abilities and achievement. Last year Rich had, fortunately, some pretty good results. He tried two separate DUI-Murder jury trials, one of which involved two victims. Rich won’t bore you with the details but both cases turned out well. [Editor’s note: maybe he will tell you about it if you ask nicely] The double murder case resulted in not guilty verdicts on both murder and gross vehicular manslaughter counts; the other resulted in a hung jury on the murder count, which was eventually dismissed. Both clients were convicted of some lesser offenses-but the object of both cases was to win the murder counts. He also got some not-guilty verdicts on regular DUI trials.

At Arcadia Rotary, we are particularly proud of this award because he became the first lawyer to be awarded the Giesler twice-having previously awarded it in 1991.