May
30,
2014

A report on where
things
stand


Twelve Superior Court Contests Coming Down to Wire as Tuesday’s Primary Approaches...Bill to Amend Sexually Violent Predator Act in Response to ‘Pillowcase Rapist’ Case Passes Assembly Without Dissent...Court of Appeal Presiding Justice Joan Dempsey Klein to Step Down After Nearly 52 Years on the Bench


Judicial Elections

The following candidates will appear on the ballot in Tuesday's primary:
•Office No. 22, Amy Carter (Sex Crimes Prosecutor) and Pamala F. Matsumoto (Litigation Attorney) for the seat last held by Judge Michael Solner, who retired in February.
•Office No. 48, Charles M. Calderon (Retired Lawmaker Assemblymember), and Carol Rose (Child Molestation Prosecutor) for the seat last held by Judge Ronald Sohigian, who retired this month.
•Office No. 54, Shannon L. Knight (Gang Homicide Prosecutor) and Debra L. Losnick (Superior Court Commissioner), for the seat now held by Judge Lance Ito.
•Office No. 61, B. Otis Felder (Los Angeles Prosecutor), Jacqueline H. Lewis (Superior Court Commissioner), and Dayan Mathai (Gang Homicide Prosecutor), for the seat now held by Judge Michael Nash.
•Office No. 72, Chris J. Frisco (Criminal Gang Prosecutor), running unopposed for the seat now held by Judge Joseph DiLoreto.
•Office No. 76, Alison Matsumoto Estrada (Government Corruption Prosecutor) and Helen Kim (Criminal Prosecutor), for the seat now held by Judge Harvey Giss.
•Office No. 82, Ann H. Park (Criminal Prosecutor) is running unopposed for the seat now held by Judge Arthur M. Lew.
•Office No. 87, Tom Griego (Criminal Gang Prosecutor), Steven P. Schreiner, (Gang Homicide Prosecutor) and Andrew M. Stein (Gang Homicide Attorney), for the seat now held by Judge Rex Heeseman.
•Office No. 90, Serena R. Murillo (Sexual Predator Prosecutor), running unopposed for the seat now held by Judge Daniel Lopez.
•Office No. 97, Teresa Pineda Magno (Gang Murder Prosecutor), and Songhai “Sunny” Armsted (Supervising Criminal Prosecutor), for the seat formerly held by Judge David Milton, who retired in February.
•Office No. 107, Emma Castro (Superior Court Commissioner) and Joan M. Chrostek (Major Narcotics Prosecutor), for the seat now held by Judge Bob S. Bowers Jr.
•Office No. 113, Steven Klaif (Superior Court Referee) and Stacy Wiese (Criminal Homicide Prosecutor), for the seat last held by Judge R. Bruce Minto, who retired in March.
•Office No. 117, Carol Najera (Violent Crimes Prosecutor) and James B. Pierce (Judge of the Superior Court).
•Office No. 138, Marc A. Gibbons (Trial Attorney) and Donna Hollingsworth Armstrong (Gang Homicide Prosecutor), for the seat held by Judge Carlos Uranga, who is retiring today.
•Office No. 157, Andrew Cooper (Gang Homicide Prosecutor) and Arnold William Mednick (Retired Court Referee), for the seat formerly held by Judge Jessica Perrin Silvers, who retired in February.


Judiciary: Vacancies, Appointments



Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

There are no vacancies..

 

U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. was nominated April 3 to succeed Judge Gary Feess, who took senior status March 13.


Justice Joyce L. Kennard retired April 5.

First District

Presiding Justice James Marchiano retired from Div. One March 15 of last year. Justice James Lambden retired from Div. Two July 31 of last year. Justice Paul Haerle said he expects to retire from Div. Two next month.

Second District

Presiding Justice Joan Dempsey Klein of Div. Three is not seeking retention. Her term will end Jan. 5, and she will have completed nearly 52 years of judicial service.
Presiding Justice Robert Mallano retired from Div. One and Justice Steven Suzukawa from Div. Four Feb. 28.
Justice Frank Jackson retired from Div. Seven June 30 of last year. Justice Orville Armstrong retired from Div. Five July 31 of last year.
Justice Kathryn Doi Todd retired from Div. Two Jan. 22 of last year. Justice Paul Coffee retired from Div. Six Jan. 31, 2012.
Among those who names have been sent to the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation as possible appointees to the court are Ventura Superior Court Judge Tari Cody; Los Angeles Superior Court Judges John Segal, Luis Lavin, Helen Bendix, Brian Hoffstadt, Lee Edmon, and Sanjay Kumar; U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins; and Southwestern Law School professor Christopher Cameron. Also, the name of Justice Frances Rothschild has been sent to the commission as a nominee for elevation to presiding justice in Div. One.

Third District

There has been a vacancy since Tani Cantil-Sakauye became chief justice in January 2011. Those whose names have been sent to the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation reportedly include San Joaquin Superior Court Judge George Abdallah and Sacramento Superior Court Judges Thadd Blizzard, Helena Gweon, David Abbott, David DeAlba and Kevin Culhane.

Fifith District

Justice Rebecca Wiseman retired Oct. 31 of last year.

Seats in other districts are filled.
Los Angeles Superior Court

Judge Janice Croft retired Feb. 18, Judges David Milton and Michael Solner Feb. 19, Judge Jessica Silvers Feb. 20, Judge John Meigs March 7, Judge R. Bruce Minto March 31, Judge Candace Beason April 15, Judge Ronald Sohigian April 16, and Judge Carlos Uranaga April 30.
Eight vacancies created last year have not been filled. Judge Diane Wheatley retired April 16, Judge John Reid retired June 2; Judge Lawrence Mira stepped down July 24; Judge Shari K. Silver retired Aug. 1; Judge Charles W. McCoy retired Sept. 1; Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell joined the federal bench April 30; Judge Cynthia Rayvis took disability retirement Aug. 22 and died Dec. 28, and Judge Dewey L. Falcone retired May 8 and died Aug. 15.
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.
Presiding Judge David Wesley said he will ask the Legislature to convert seven more commissioner vacancies—resulting from the retirements of Commissioners James Endman, Anthony Jones, John Green, and James Copeland, as well as the appointments of Joel Wallenstein and Lloyd Loomis to judgeships and the retirement of Commissioner Carol Halowitz May 8—to judgeships.
Another commissioner, Louise Halevy, is on long-term sick leave.
Among those whose names have been sent to the JNE Commission as possible judicial appointees to the court are Court of Appeal staff attorneys Frank J. Menetrez, Kenneth E. Roberson and Kim Nguyen; Century City attorney Christopher Lui, 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; 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.

Legislation of Interest to the Legal Community

The Legislature took the following action on bills of interest to the legal community in May.

•AB 515 by Assemblymember Roger Dickinson, D-Sacramento. The bill would codify procedures for writ review in cases under the California Environmental Quality Act. It passed the Assembly in January by a vote of 64-4. A Senate committee hearing was cancelled May 19 at the request of the author.

•AB 1607 by Assemblymember Steve Fox, D-Palmdale, which would amend procedures for release under the Sexually Violent Predator Act, including a provision for transfer of jurisdiction to the superior court in the county to which the defendant is released. Fox said he introduced the bill in response to the case of “Pillowcase Rapist” Christopher Hubbart, who was ordered released to Fox’s district by a judge in Santa Clara Superior Court. The bill passed the Assembly May 23 by a vote of 75-0 and was sent to the Senate.

•AB 2171 by Assemblymember Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, which would grant residents of residential care facilities for the elderly many of the legal protections now given to residents of nursing homes. The bill passed the Assembly May 28by a vote of 42-20 and was sent to the Senate.

•AB 2746 by the Assembly Judiciary Committee, which would grant the State Bar dues authority for 2015 at the current rate. As amended, the bill increases the voluntary contribution for legal services for low-income persons. The bill passed the Assembly May 15 by a vote of 76-0 and was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee May 22. •SB 1010, by Sen. Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles, which would eliminate disparities in sentencing for crimes involving crack cocaine and those involving the same amount of powder cocaine. The bill passed the Assembly May 28 by a vote of 21-12. .

•SB 1010 by Sen. Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles, which would eliminate disparities in sentencing for crimes involving crack cocaine and those involving the same amount of powder cocaine. The bill passed the Assembly May 28 by a vote of 21-12.

•SB 1188 by Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, which would expand the definition of fraud or deceit in the Consumer Legal Remedies Act to include the suppression or omission of a material fact by one who is bound to disclose it or who gives information of other facts that are likely to mislead for want of communication of that fact, and would provide that a fact is material if a reasonable person would attach importance to its existence or nonexistence in determining a choice of action in the transaction in question. The bill was amended May 20 to clarify that it does not “expand or restrict warranty rights or obligations,” and was passed May 28 by a vote of 21-14 and sent to the Assembly.


 

 

 


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