TARZANA, Calif. (Metropolitan News-Enterprise) – Armand Arabian, who served on the California Supreme Court from 1990-96, and before that on the Los Angeles Municipal Court, the Los Angeles Superior Court, and the Court of Appeal, has died.
He was 83. Arabian died Wednesday, March 28, after suffering from ill health following the death of his wife, Nancy Arabian, two years ago.
They had been wed for 54 years.
Although Arabian penned 99 majority opinions for the high court, he is best known for a ruling in 1973 as a Superior Court judge. Arabian declined to give the mandatory instruction that the testimony of an alleged rape victim was to be viewed with caution.
High Court Affirmance
The defendant was convicted and appealed on the basis of that refusal. Affirming, the California Supreme Court said, in a 1975 opinion by Chief Justice Donald Wright (since deceased) in People v. Rincon-Pineda: