Lawrence K. Karlton, who arrived in Sacramento while in the Army and stayed to become a federal judge whose rulings aimed to help people who needed it the most, died Saturday night at age 80.
Retired from the federal court for the Eastern District of California at the end of September, Karlton died at his home on the Garden Highway from a heart valve problem he had dealt with for several years. His wife, Sue Karlton, and daughter, Emily Williams, were with him when he died.
Karlton left private practice in 1976 when then-Gov. Jerry Brown appointed him to the Sacramento Superior Court. He was nominated for the Eastern District bench by President Jimmy Carter and confirmed in 1979. He retired in the fall of 2014.
Karlton’s written legal opinions on mental health care for inmates, amnesty for undocumented immigrants, and preservation of the environment stand as significant influences on key issues.
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