Gladys Towles Root (September 9, 1905 – December 21, 1982) was a
criminal defense
In the field of criminal law, there are a variety of conditions that will tend to negate elements of a crime (particularly the ''intent'' element), known as defenses. The label may be apt in jurisdictions where the ''accused'' may be assigned some ...
attorney in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. Root specialized in sexual assault and murder cases, partly because those were the only clients available to a woman attorney at the time and partly because few other lawyers wanted to defend them.
[Cecilia Rasmussen]
"‘Lady in Purple’ Took L.A. Legal World by Storm,"
''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'', February 6, 1995.
Early life
Root was the second daughter of Clara Dexter Towles and Charles Towles of Los Angeles. She was born in 1905 and grew up in comfortable surroundings.
There were very few women practicing law when Root graduated from
USC School of Law in 1930. Root was unable to obtain employment and decided to open her own practice. Gladys Towles Root opened her office at 212 South Hill Street, Los Angeles California, the former location of the Rainbow Saloon.
Root became a defense attorney for rape and murder cases. She became so skilled that by the early 1960s young prosecutors and defense attorneys would gather to watch her
cross-examination
In law, cross-examination is the interrogation of a witness by one's opponent. It is preceded by direct examination (known as examination-in-chief in Law of the Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the Law of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom, Austra ...
of prosecuting witnesses.
Legal career
At age 25, Root defended her first client, Louis Osuna, in a murder trial. Osuna had hired Root to get a quick divorce from his wife but then, frustrated with the legal system, shot and killed his wife the next day. Root defended him in the murder trial and convinced the jury to convict him of manslaughter rather than first-degree murder. Afterward, Osuna introduced her to other inmates interested in her services.
In 1931, she successfully argued for a Filipino man and a Caucasian woman's right to marry, which was at that time illegal in the state of California. The law was declared unconstitutional.
Root served as president of the
Southern California Women Lawyers in 1945. At the height of her career, Root was handling 1,600 cases per year and averaging 75 court appearances per month.
[Chiara Towne]
""Get Me Gladys!" – How L.A.’s Best-Dressed Attorney Defended the Defenseless,"
''KCET
KCET (channel 28) is a secondary PBS member television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the Public Media Group of Southern California alongside the market's primary PBS member, Huntington Beach–licensed KOC ...
'', March 30, 2016. In July 1964 an indictment was issued against Gladys by the Federal
Grand Jury
A grand jury is a jury empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a person to testify. A grand ju ...
in connection with her actions during her defense of one of the defendants in the kidnapping case of
Frank Sinatra, Jr., the teenage son of
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...
. Three men had kidnapped Frank Sinatra Jr. from across the California-Nevada state line at
Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe (; Washo language, Washo: ''dáʔaw'') is a Fresh water, freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the Western United States, straddling the border between California and Nevada. Lying at above sea level, Lake Tahoe is the largest a ...
and transported him to Los Angeles. The kidnappers collected
$240,000 ransom. Gladys was hired to defend one of the kidnappers, John William Irwin. Charges were brought against Gladys based on her allegedly fabricating the story that the young singer concocted the kidnapping for publicity reasons. Gladys was indicted in 1964 on charges of
conspiracy
A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...
, suborning
perjury
Perjury (also known as forswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an insta ...
, and
obstruction of justice
In United States jurisdictions, obstruction of justice refers to a number of offenses that involve unduly influencing, impeding, or otherwise interfering with the justice system, especially the legal and procedural tasks of prosecutors, investiga ...
. The charges were dropped in 1968.
Root fought with the
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...
, beginning in the 1970s. The IRS contended that she owed more than $230,000 in back taxes when interest and penalties were included. She fought the judgment and lost in the federal appeals court in 1977. She attempted to appeal to the
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...
, but the highest court in the land refused to hear the case.
She presented a flamboyant figure in the courtroom and was referred to as the "Lady in Purple." She was especially known for colorful hair and the large, dramatic hats she wore to court.
Personal life
In 1929, she married sheriff’s Deputy Frank Root, with whom she had a son. They divorced in 1941, and in 1943 she married Jay C. Geiger, with whom she had a daughter in 1944.
On Tuesday, December 21, 1982, while in Los Angeles Superior Court,
Pomona, defending one of two brothers accused of rape, Root suffered a heart attack; collapsed into the arms of her protégé David Brockway, who was defending the other brother; and died at age 77. Root was buried at
Forest Lawn Glendale.
References
* Rice, Cy ''Get Me Gladys!'', Holloway House Pub. Co., Los Angeles, (1966)
* Rice, Cy ''Defender of the Damned'', Citadel Press, New York, (1964)
* Danielsson, Charlotte A. ''The Lady in Purple Gladys Towles Root'' Stanford Law School Women's Legal History (1997)
Further reading
*
External links
* Rasmussen, Ceceli
''Zzyzx An Unlikely Home of Hucksterism and Miracle Cures''* Noe, Denis
Court TV Bio
* Danielsson, Charlotte A
Stanford Law School Women's Legal History (1997)
List of cases from Findlaw
{{DEFAULTSORT:Root, Gladys
Root, Gladys Towles
Root, Gladys Towles
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
Lawyers from Los Angeles
American criminal defense lawyers
USC Gould School of Law alumni
20th-century American lawyers
20th-century American women lawyers