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September 20, 2007

Not Judge Ito but an Advocate Employee

Not Judge Ito but an Advocate Employee

It was not Judge Lance Ito -- famous for presiding over the 1995 double murder trial of O.J. Simpson -- who declared Simpson “guilty as sin” of current charges leveled against him to gossip site TMZ.com’s cameras. Actually it was The Advocate’s own accounts payable supervisor, Jeff Lee, in attendance at the magazine’s 40th anniversary party.

Lee was standing outside the West Hollywood, Calif., restaurant and lounge Republic Tuesday night, where cameras loomed just feet away to capture celebrities as they left the venue. As he and his guest waited for gift bags, camera operators asked his verdict on Simpson's being charged with armed robbery, among other crimes, at a Las Vegas hotel last week.

“At first I thought they just wanted to take photos of celebrities,” Lee said Wednesday. “Then after a while, I thought they were interested in getting an opinion poll. But then I heard one mention ‘Judge Ito’ and it just clicked in.”

Lee said he decided to play along. With the cameras rolling, he gave his verdict and took to the street.

Wednesday morning a coworker told him he had been mistakenly identified as Ito on a just-posted TMZ.com video. The post was soon taken down after the Los Angeles County superior court made the error known.

"The video does not depict Judge Ito," the court said in a statement. "He is not in the video, and he did not, and has not, commented in any way to TMZ.com -- or any other media organization -- about the Las Vegas case or any other matter relating to O.J. Simpson -- past or present."

Lee himself e-mailed the site, saying that the incident gave him a good laugh. He said that aside from an auto-response e-mail, TMZ did not get back to him. The video has been reinstated, however, identifying Lee as an Ito look-alike. (The Advocate) 

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