Trial began yesterday in the case of Richman, 55. He pled not guilty Nov. 21 after being charged with battery for allegedly pushing and injuring a Chatsworth neighbor who was walking her dogs.
The judge’s attorney, James Blatt, told the Los Angeles Times that the neighbor, Connie Romero, threw a bag of excrement at Richman after the judge asked her to find a trash can for it. Blatt called the battery charge a “total fabrication.”
Richman was a deputy district attorney prior to being appointed to the bench by then-Gov. Arnold Schwar­zenegger.

David Tamman
Suspended Attorney

Tamman is engaged in litigation against Nixon Peabody LLP, where he used to be a securities partner.
Tamman was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez of the Central District of California Sept. 23 to seven years in prison for obstructing two Securities and Exchange Commission investigations.
The Santa Monica resident was convicted on Nov. 13, 2012 in U.S. District Court of all 10 counts of an indictment charging him with trying to prevent the SEC from discovering that his client was running a Ponzi scheme.
Following a two-week bench trial, Tamman was found guilty of one count of conspiring to obstruct justice, five counts of altering documents, one count of being an accessory after the fact to his client’s mail and securities fraud crimes, and three counts of aiding and abetting the client’s false testimony before the SEC.
The client, former fund manager and radio personality John Farahi, was sentenced to 10 years in prison earlier this year for running the scheme, which involved false promises that investors’ money—more than $24 million was collected, prosecutors said—would be invested in corporate bonds backed by the Troubled Assets Relief Program.
Tamman, who had left the firm while the SEC was investigating, sued Nixon Peabody in Los Angeles Superior Court in 2011. He contended that he was “thrown under the bus” by the firm, so that his partners could get their hands on his $1.5 million book of business.
The firm explained, in a press release issued at the time the suit was filed, that it fired Tamman “as soon as we learned that he was under SEC investigation and he failed to explain his actions to us,” adding that the firm “has acted completely appropriately in cooperating with the SEC on this issue.” Greenberg Traurig, which Tamman joined after leaving Nixon Peabody, publicly fired him after he was charged civilly by the SEC, saying he had not disclosed the situation to them when he was hired.
The litigation had been stayed while the criminal case was pending, but is now ongoing.
Tamman’s interim suspension from the State Bar took effect Feb. 18 of last year. An additional suspension for not paying bar dues took effect July 2.

John Haw
Disbarred Attorney

Haw was disbarred on Jan. 17, 11 days after his release from a halfway house where he served six months in prison on two counts of mail fraud based upon his participation in an illegal kickback scheme.
Haw did not oppose the State Bar Court’s recommendation that he be summarily disbarred based on his conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude.
Prosecutors said Haw paid more than $56,000 to an entity controlled by David Hamedany, who was director of construction at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, where Haw was a construction manager. Hamedany was sentenced to three years in prison.

The nominations of John B. Owens and Michelle T. Friedland were sent to the full Senate by the Judiciary Committee on Jan. 16.
Owens was nominated Aug. 1 of last year for the seat vacant since Dec. 31, 2004, when Judge Stephen Trott assumed senior status. The 41-year-old litigator is a former federal prosecutor in Los Angeles and San Diego, where he headed the Criminal Division before joining Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP last year.
President Obama on Aug. 1 also nominated Friedland to the court. Like Owens, she is a Munger Tolles litigation partner. Friedland is based in San Francisco and Owens in Los Angeles.
If confirmed by the Senate, Friedland will fill a judgeship vacant since April 1, when Judge Raymond C. Fisher assumed senior status. Friedland, 41, is a former lecturer at Stanford Law School, from which she graduated in 2000.

There are no current vacancies, but Judge Gary Feess is taking senior status on March 13.

There are no vacancies.

Several judges appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown last month have taken up permanent assignments.
Judge Carl H. Moor, formerly a partner at Munger Tolles and Olson LLP, is in traffic Department 67 at the Metropolitan Courthouse. Judge Mark K. Hanasono, a former deputy alternate public defender, is hearing criminal cases in Department 30 at the Foltz Criminal Justice Center.
Judge Daniel Juarez, formerly a state administrative law judge, will sit in Department 5, a criminal court in Bellflower, beginning Feb. 10. Judge Dorothy C. Kim, former deputy chief of the Criminal Division at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, will sit in traffic Department 63 at the Metropolitan Courthouse, also beginning Feb. 10.
Still vacant are the seats last held by Judges Diane Wheatley, who retired April 16 of last year; John Reid, who retired June 2; Lawrence Mira, who stepped down July 24; Shari K. Silver, who retired Aug. 1; Charles W. McCoy, who retired Sept. 1; Beverly Reid O’Connell, who joined the federal bench April 30; Cynthia Rayvis, who took disability retirement Aug. 22 and died Dec. 28, and Dewey L. Falcone, who retired May 8 and died Aug. 15.
Judge Janice Croft will officially retire Feb. 18. Judge Jessica Silvers is retiring Feb. 20, and Judge John Meigs is stepping down March 7.
Judge R. Bruce Minto’s last day on the bench is today. His retirement is effective March 31.
There is a vacancy in a position that the Legislature authorized but has never funded, and seven commissioner positions have been converted to judgeships that have not yet been filled.
Among those whose names have been sent to the JNE Commission as possible judicial appointees to the court are Superior Court Commissioners Marilyn Kading Martinez, Robert Kawahara, Alan Rubin, Emma Castro, Jane Godfrey, Sharon Lewis Miller, Mark Zuckman, David Cowan, Dennis Mulcahy and Kenneth Taylor; Deputy District Attorneys Candace Foy Smith, Leonard Torrealba, Kathleen Tuttle and Brentford Ferreira; State Bar Court Judge Richard Honn; Deputy County Counsels Terry Truong and Julie Ann Silva; Deputy Public Defenders Enrique Monguia and Johan ElFarrah; Glendale attorney Kenneth Wright; Court of Appeal staff attorneys Kenneth E. Roberson and Kim Nguyen; Los Angeles attorneys Timothy Martella and Angel Navarro; and Assistant U.S. Attorney Wesley Hsu.
The name of Ed Chau was sent to the commission prior to his election to the state Assembly.
Commissioner Anthony Jones is stepping down after 25 years of service. His last day on the bench was Jan. 17, and his retirement is effective March 1.