David O . Carter David O . Carter ( born 1944 in Providence , Rhode Island ) is a United States District Court Judge for the Central District of California . Education and military service . Carter received his bachelor ' s degree ( B . A . cum laude 1967 ) and his law degree ( J . D . 1972 ) from the University of California , Los Angeles . After graduating from college , Carter accepted a commission in the United States Marine Corps . He served in the Vietnam War where he fought in the Battle of Khe Sahn in 1968 . He left the service as a First Lieutenant . His military awards and decorations include a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart . Early career . Carter began his legal career as an Assistant District Attorney with the Orange County District Attorney ' s Office in 1972 where he became the senior deputy district attorney in charge of the office ' s homicide division . Carter filed charges and was the initial prosecutor in the case of serial killer William Bonin , also known as " The Freeway Killer , " who became the first person executed by lethal injection in California in 1996 . In addition to his judicial functions , Carter lectured fellow judges at the California Judges College , the Judicial Criminal Law Institute , and the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference . He also speaks frequently with judges abroad , including engagements in Brazil , Bosnia , China , the Philippines , and Malawi . Carter teaches an undergraduate course on international narcotics trade at the University of California , Irvine , where he has received the school ' s Distinguished Professors Award three times , and has taught at Whittier Law School ' s Summer Abroad Program . Judicial career . Orange County Superior Court . In 1981 , Carter joined the bench as a Municipal Court Judge in Orange County , California . One year later , he became an Orange County Superior Judge , a position that he held until joining the federal judiciary in 1998 . Carter initiated a variety of programs to assist in the rehabilitation of convicted felons , including a tattoo removal program for gang members , and was active in planning the county ' s Law Day festivities . He earned the nickname " King David " from attorneys while serving as the Supervising Judge of the court ' s Criminal Division . United States District Court . Carter was nominated by President Bill Clinton on June 25 , 1998 to fill a seat vacated by William J . Rea . Carter was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 21 , 1998 , and received his commission the following day . He now sits in the Southern Division of the Central District of California in Santa Ana , California . As a jurist , Carter is known for his intellect , courteous judicial demeanor , work ethic , and expertise in complex criminal cases . Although he is assigned to the Central District of California , Carter also regularly sits by designation in the District of Idaho and on occasion in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and in the District of Guam . Notable cases . Gay - Straight Alliance ( " Colin ex rel . Colin v . Orange Unified School District " ) . In the first ruling of its kind , Carter issued a preliminary injunction in 2000 ordering Orange County public school officials to allow a Gay - Straight Alliance club organized by students to meet on campus . Carter held that the Equal Access Act requires a public high school , which accepts federal funding and establishes a limited open forum for non - curriculum - related student groups , to allow a student group promoting homosexual tolerance to meet on campus . The case settled after Carter issued the injunction when the school board agreed to recognize the Gay - Straight Alliance organization . Although the case was politically controversial , Orange County School Board member Linda Davis later admitted at a board meeting on November 18 , 2000 that Carter ' s legal ruling was correct : " We know the law is on their side , but our community members don ' t want it . " Mexican Mafia trials ( " United States v . Fernandez , et al . " ) . Between 2000 and 2001 , Carter presided over the longest criminal trial in the history of the Central District of California . This case involved the prosecution of more than forty alleged members of the Mexican Mafia on charges of murder , attempted murder , conspiracy to murder , extortion , robbery , and various drug trafficking and firearm s crimes . Much of the case involved a triple homicide that occurred in 1998 . The case was severed into three trials , with Carter presiding over each , and lasted for a combined 18 months . Following the conviction of Mariano " Chuy " Martinez on murder charges , the prosecution sought the death penalty , making it the first capital case to be tried in Los Angeles federal court since 1950 . A jury ultimately spared Martinez , sentencing him instead to life imprisonment . Anna Nicole Smith ( " In re Marshall " ) . In 2002 , Carter awarded over $ 88 million in damages to former Playboy Playmate Vickie Lynn Marshall , better known as Anna Nicole Smith , in the battle over the estate of her late husband , billionaire J . Howard Marshall . The case came to Carter on appeal following a federal bankruptcy court ruling that awarded Smith $ 475 million of her late husband ' s $ 1 . 6 billion fortune . Carter concluded that Howard ' s son , E . Pierce Marshall , interfered with Smith ' s attempts to collect her inheritance . " The evidence of willfulness , maliciousness , and fraud is overwhelming , " Carter wrote in his 54 - page opinion . Upon finding that Smith had a reasonable expectation that she would receive a portion of her husband ' s estate without interference , Carter held that Smith was entitled to collect $ 44 . 3 million in punitive damages and $ 44 . 3 million in compensatory damages against Pierce Marshall . The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated Carter ' s order on the grounds that he lacked jurisdiction to hear the case because federal jurisdiction interfered with Texas probate court proceedings . The Supreme Court of the United States reversed the Ninth Circuit , concluding in a unanimous opinion that Carter properly exercised jurisdiction over Smith ' s claim and remanded the case for further proceedings . However , on remand from the Supreme Court , the Ninth Circuit determined that Carter should have deferred to the earlier decision of the Texas probate court , and directed Carter to enter judgment for Marshall . Aryan Brotherhood trials ( " United States v . Mills , et al . " ) . Carter has been heavily involved in the proceedings arising from the 2002 indictment on racketeering charges of forty alleged members of the Aryan Brotherhood ( " AB " ) , a notorious prison gang . This indictment alleges that the AB ordered thirty - two murders over a 23 - year period and charges forty - one AB gang members and associates with violations of the federal RICO Act . Twenty - six defendants were eligible for the death penalty , making this the largest capital indictment in federal history . Twenty of the defendants charged in the indictment were assigned to Carter , including two of the three commissioners of the AB ' s federal faction , Barry " The Baron " Mills and Tyler " The Hulk " Bingham . Following a six - month trial , a jury convicted both Mills and Bingham of committing Violent Crimes in Aid of Racketeering ( VICAR ) and murder . The jury deadlocked on the death penalty , and both have been sentenced and are now serving life terms at ADX Florence , the federal system ' s sole supermax facility . The trials of several remaining defendants are currently ongoing before Carter and other judges in the Central District of California . " Barnett v . Obama " . In 2009 , Carter dismissed a lawsuit , " Barnett v . Obama " , challenging President Barack Obama ' s election and assumption of office because of the claims that Obama was not a natural born citizen of the United States , commenting that the power to remove a sitting president from office resides with Congress , not the judiciary . " Delegates to the Republican National Convention v . Republican National Committee " . Carter is to preside over the lawsuit brought upon by a grouped called the " Lawyers for Ron Paul " against the Republican National Committee regarding the legality of bounding delegates for Mitt Romney during and following the Republican Party presidential primaries , 2012 . ( The group is not affiliated with the campaign . )