User:Waterstraat/sandbox/S Ernest Roll

S Ernest Roll (January 22 1904 – October 26 1956) was the 33rd Los Angeles County District Attorney.



Personal information
Silas Ernest "Ernie" Roll was born on January 22 1904. He was a native of Long Beach California and a graduate of USC Law School. Ernie Roll joined the DA's Office in 1931 and he returned after serving in the Navy during World War II. Before Roll was elected Los Angeles County’s thirty-third district attorney, he served as interim LA District Attorney upon the death of DA William Simpson.

Ernie Roll was the first LA district attorney to use television to connect with constituents and had a weekly television show. The Long Beach Independent’s issue of Tuesday, Aug, 7, 1951, notes: “D. A. on TV—S. Ernest Roll, district attorney for L. A., assisted by Ed Lyon and Freeman Lusk, presents a l5-minute discussion of problems of his office in a new telecast on KLAC (13) at 8:15 p.m. It will be a regular weekly show hereafter.”

The manslaughter conviction in 1938 of Paul Wright, for killing his wife and a friend, was one of the cases that brought fame and notoriety to Ernie Roll.

Roll won the DA’s election in 1952. Subsequently, Ernie Roll was reelected in the June 1956 primary. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and died just a few days before the November general election.