[1] Peckham was the presiding judge for a lawsuit filed by minorities and women that charged the San Francisco Police Department with discrimination in hiring.
He also issued an order in 1985 setting ground rules for the desegregation of the San Jose Unified School District.
In a suit by a group of black parents against the California school system, Larry P. v. Riles, he ruled in 1979 that I.Q.
He said further hearings were needed to decide whether a renewed ban was required to keep blacks from being misplaced in classes for the retarded.
[4] He also presided over the federal criminal prosecution of Larry Layton, a former member of the People's Temple cult, who was convicted of aiding and abetting in the murder of United States Representative Leo Ryan at a jungle airstrip in Guyana in November 1978.
Peckham sentenced Layton to life in prison, as well as to three concurrent terms of 15 years each in related charges.