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Lance Allan Ito (born August 2, 1952 in Los Angeles, California). He attended John Marshall High School. He is a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge who hears felony criminal cases at the county courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. He is a resident of Pasadena.

In 1992, he presided over Charles H. Keating Jr.'s trial in the Savings and Loan scandal; Keating's 10-year sentence was later overturned on appeal because Ito had neglected to instruct the jury to determine whether Keating intended to defraud investors.

Ito became familiar to American television viewers when he presided over the 1995 murder trial of O.J. Simpson at which Simpson was acquitted. Ito was chosen because of his Japanese origins. It was only 2 years since the Rodney King trial and racial tensions were still high in Los Angeles. A white or black judge would have been criticized by either side and viewed as prejudicial to one side over the other.

Many judges disliked Ito's handling of the Simpson case because they felt he allowed his courtroom to be turned into part of the media circus. Ito was the subject of parody with comedian Jay Leno's Dancing Itos a regular part of The Tonight Show during the Simpson trial.

He earned his J.D. degree from the University of California, Berkeley's Boalt Hall in 1975. In 1981, he married Margaret Anne York, the highest ranking woman in the Los Angeles Police Department. York is currently head of the Los Angeles County Office of Public Safety.

Ito continues to hold office as a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge. He refuses to give interviews regarding the Simpson trial.