Former Superior Court Patrick Murphy Does Not Seek Review of Disbarment Recommendation...Balloting to Begin for Two Superior Court Commissioner Vacancies...Court of Appeal Presiding Justice Charles Vogel to Retire Next Month

Judicial Elections

The nominations period ended Dec. 5. There will be nine judicial contests on the March 2 primary ballot:

Office No. 18-Deputy District Attorneys Pat Campbell and Daniel Feldstern, Deputy City Attorney Miguel A. Dager, and Superior Court Referee Mildred Escobedo are running for the seat being vacated by Judge Marcus Tucker. Campbell's campaign has retained consultant Fred Huebscher.

Office No. 29- Deputy Attorney General Gus Gomez; Deputy District Attorneys Jeffrey Gootman, Edward Nison, and Lori Jones; Acton attorney Larry H. Layton, who operates an unaccredited law school; and Deputy Public Defender C. Edward Mack are seeking the seat being vacated by Judge Richard Hubbell. Gomez has retained Parke Skelton as his campaign consultant, while Jones' campaign is being run by Huebscher.

Office No. 52-Deputy District Attorneys Larry Diamond and Laura Priver and Workers' Compensation Judge John Gutierrez are running to succeed Judge Nancy Brown, who will retire Jan 31. Huebscher is Priver's consultant.

Office No. 53-Deputy District Attorneys David Lopez, Craig Mitchell and Craig Renetzky; Deputy Attorney General Robert Henry, Torrance attorney Michael Shook, and Superior Court Referee D. Zeke Zeidler are running for the seat being vacated by Judge Rosemary Shumsky. Henry has retained Huebscher as his consultant, while Zeidler is being represented by Cerrell Associates, Inc.

Office No. 67-Century City attorney Daniel K. Dik is challenging Judge Richard Van Dusen.

Office No. 69-Department of Industrial Relations attorney P. Michael Erwin, Superior Court Commissioner Donna Groman, Deputy District Attorneys Judith L. Meyer and Carol Najera, and Sherman Oaks attorney Mitchelll W. Roth are running to succeed Judge James Wright. Meyer's consultant is Cerrell Associates.

Office No. 72-Judge David Wesley is being challenged by Deputy District Attorney Daniel Bershin, retired Deputy District Attorney Herb Lapin, and Los Angeles Police Dept. Sgt. Kevin Burke, a former Orange County prosecutor. Wesley's consultant is Cerrell Associates.

Office No. 95-Judge Daniel T. Oki has drawn three challengers: Deputy District Attorneys Mark Debbaudt and Hillary Rhonan and Encino attorney Eugene Salute. Oki has retained Huebscher to serve as campaign consultant.

Office No. 111-Judge Chesley McKay is being challenged by Stella Owens-Murrell, an attorney with the Department of Industrial Relations.

Judges, Lawyers Under Scrutiny

Patrick B. Murphy
Former Superior Court judge

Murphy, who resigned from the bench while on the verge of removal in 2001, did not petition for review of State Bar Court Judge Robert Talcott's disbarment recommendation by Monday's deadline.

Talcott recommended last month that Murphy be disbarred for "egregious" misconduct in collecting a judicial paycheck for 120 weeks while on sick leave between 1996 and 2001.

Murphy had asked to enter the State Bar Court's diversion program for lawyers with mental health or substance abuse problems but failed to appear at a hearing to determine his eligibility for that program or for trial on the disciplinary charges. His default was entered and as a result he was placed on involuntary inactive status Aug. 9.

He was also suspended Sept. 16 for failure to pay his bar dues.

Talcott's findings largely tracked those of the Commission on Judicial Performance, which censured Murphy and barred him "from receiving any assignment, appointment, or reference of work from any California state court."

Talcott noted that Murphy was absent from Sept. 20, 1999, until April 3, 2000; stopped working for good as of June 8, 2000; and resigned on May 4, 2001. He chronicled Murphy's activities during the time he was supposedly too sick to work: teaching one or two night law classes a week, serving as an instructor at a Citizen's Police Academy in Baldwin Park, completing pre-med physics and chemistry courses at Cleveland Chiropractic College in Los Angeles, and attending classes at a school of medicine on the island of Dominica in the West Indies from January to April of 2000.

Talcott rejected Murphy's claim that he was indeed ill, suffering from various maladies including a "phobia" regarding judicial service. The medical evidence did not support that contention, the State Bar Court judge said.

Talcott also found that Murphy lied to Rolf Treu, then the presiding judge of the Citrus court, about the state of his health.

Judiciary: Vacancies, Appointments

Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

There are two vacancies on the 28-judge court.

Republican senators last month tried to move the nomination of Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carolyn Kuhl, but a cloture vote failed by 53-43, seven shy of the necessary 60-vote majority.

The Judiciary Committee on May 8 approved Kuhl, who was rated well-qualified by at least two-thirds of the ABA Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, by a party-line vote of 10-9. Kuhl was tapped by Bush in 2001 to succeed Judge James Browning, who took senior status Sept. 1, 2000.

President Bush on May 15 nominated William G. Myers III of Idaho to succeed Judge Thomas G. Nelson, who took senior status Nov. 14. Myers resigned Oct. 10 as solicitor of the Department of the Interior. A majority of the ABA committee found Myers qualified, with at least six members voting him not qualified.

There are no vacancies.

Judge Lourdes G. Baird has given notice she intends to take senior status next May, and Judge Robert J. Timlin is to take senior status in January 2005.

There are no vacancies, but one would be created if the Senate confirms Justice Janice Rogers Brown to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, to which she was nominated July 25. Brown cleared the Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote of 10-9, but an attempt to invoke cloture and force an up-or-down vote on her nomination failed on Nov. 14 by a vote of 53-43, seven short of the required three-fifths majority.

A majority of the American Bar Association's evaluating committee rated Brown "qualified" for the position, with at least six of the 15 members voting her "not qualified."

Second District

Presiding Justice Charles Vogel of Div. Four will retire next month.

Third District

Justice Daniel Kolkey resigned Nov. 17 to return to private practice.

Seats in other districts are filled.

Los Angeles Superior Court

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has one vacancy to fill, in the seat held by Judge Dale Fischer prior to her joining the U.S. District Court of Appeal for the Central District of California on Nov. 17.

Judge Nancy Brown will retire Jan. 31.

Balloting will begin Friday to fill two commissioner vacancie, a court spokesman said, with ballots due back Jan. 22. Commissioner Lonzo Lucas retired Dec. 2, and Commissioner Richard Novak resigned Dec. 12 to enter private practice.

The vacancies are being filled from a newly certified list of candidates. The previous list, which contained nine candidates remaining from the original list of 35 certified two years ago, was terminated by the Superior Court Executive Committee when it met earlier this month.

Legislation of Interest to the Legal Community

The Legislature and governor did not act upon legislation directly relating to the legal community in November.