FEATURE STORY
Ron Tochterman
Ron Tochterman Judge Ron Tochterman retired from the bench January 1, 2011, but he has been writing fiction ever since. The first short story he submitted, entitled “The Law in His Hands,” won a $150 prize from Friends of the Sacramento Public Library in 2006. In 2010, Tochterman and his friend, artist Jerald Silva, challenged each other to write a play, and since then Tochterman has been writing for the theater. His plays, “Settling out of Court,” “Ethics”, “Conscience”, “Too Jewish”, and “Judicial Education” have been produced at one-act play festivals in New York, Maryland, and Washington. Tochterman compares great theater to an interesting trial: “It has dramatic tension. How is it going to turn out? Often, it is not open and shut at all.” He says that as a trial lawyer “you are trying, in effect, to produce a play. You want to present the evidence in the most interesting and convincing way.” Tochterman thinks his 32 years of experience as a judge have helped him develop an ear for what rings true. “You listen to what the witness says and how he or she says it. Maybe they sound affected because they’re
26
trying to speak like the people on TV. Even truthful witnesses can come across as untruthful because of nervousness. You make allowances.” At his computer every day from 8:00 to 9:30 a.m., he usually begins by writing a short story, which he then makes into a play, compressing it, making it sharper. The process does not wear on him: “It is not tedious at all, I love it. It is thrilling to see actors make a story you have written as a play come alive in real time.” He acknowledges it can be frustrating to watch when actors mangle his words, but when they do a good job he feels grateful and satisfied. He also found satisfaction as a trial lawyer, but of a different kind. He says, “I am so happy to be doing something other than law.” The retired judge also uses skills he developed as a criminal procedure and evidence professor at Pacific McGeorge and U.C. Davis. Since retirement, he has taught several literature courses for the Renaissance Society at Sacramento State. Tochterman claims to have virtually no imagination. “Almost everything I write,” he says, “comes from a case I prosecuted or presided over.” But his current Renaissance Society course, entitled “The Injustice System,” is based on a book by attorney Clive Stafford Smith about a double murder in Miami in 1986. Stafford Smith has won new evidentiary hearings—but not exoneration—for his client, Kris Maharaj, a businessman who has served more than 27 years in prison. The author has given Tochterman permission to write a play based on the book. The play’s working title “Actual Innocence,” comes from a case in which the Supreme Court held that actual innocence cannot be a basis for federal court habeas corpus relief.
SACRAMENTO LAWYER | March/April 2015 | www.sacbar.org
Natalie Vance
Natalie Vance Klinedinst (Sacramento) Managing Shareholder Natalie Vance is a published author. Vance explains, “Turning 40 was a wake-up call for me. I knew if I didn’t make the time to write a novel then, I would never fulfill my lifelong dream of having a book published. From that point on, I set aside 4-5 hours each weekend to write, and kept at it until I had a draft of a young adult novel.” That manuscript landed Vance an agent and book deals with two different publishers. Writing under the name “Talia Vance,” Vance now has three published novels for young adults, with more to follow. “Writing novels,” Vance concludes, “helps me to escape the pressures of a busy law practice, exercise my story-telling muscles, and think more creatively, all benefits that have crossed over into my practice.”
Anthony Garafola Anthony Garafola is a self-taught artist who primarily paints in oils, but enjoys experimenting with a variety of media. He found inspiration in the arts as a child. In the 4th grade, a friendship with the late ceramicist,