Judge Lance A. Ito presided over the Simpson criminal trial from Department 103, guiding proceedings across 167 trial days that spanned motions, witness examinations, jury instructions, and a verdict. He navigated a relentless stream of contentious rulings — from domestic violence evidence admissibility and DNA chain-of-custody disputes to discovery violations he found the prosecution had committed by withholding original evidence documents. The trial's a significant judicial crisis struck him personally when the Fuhrman tapes were discovered to contain references to his wife, LAPD Captain Margaret York, triggering emergency hearings over his potential mandatory recusal and accusations of prosecutorial misconduct.