A confirmation hearing was held yesterday for John B. Owens, nominated Aug. 1 for the seat vacant since Dec. 31, 2004, when Judge Stephen Trott assumed senior status. Owens, 41, 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 Michelle T. 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 of next year.

There are no vacancies.

Several judges have retired this year—Joseph DeVanon Jr. Jan. 31, Phillip Hickok Feb. 4; Jan Greenberg Levine Feb. 13, Dudley Gray Feb. 19, John S. Fisher Feb. 22, Peter Meeka March 29, Richard Adler April 1, Stephanie Sautner and Linda K. Lefkowitz April 5, Diane Wheatley April 16, John Reid June 2, Lawrence Mira July 24, Shari K. Silver Aug. 1, and Charles W. McCoy Sept. 1.
Also, Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell joined the federal bench April 30, Judge Cynthia Rayvis took disability retirement Aug. 22, and Judge Dewey L. Falcone retired May 8 and died Aug. 15.
Judge Janice Croft will retire Feb. 18, and Judge Jessica Silvers Feb. 20, allowing those seats to be filled by election, rather than appointment.
There is a vacancy in a position that the Legislature authorized but has never funded, and several commissioner positions have been converted to judgeships that have not yet been filled.
Four judges are currently on assignment at this district’s Court of Appeal. Judge Sanjay T. Kumar is sitting in Div. Five through today, Judge Edward Ferns in Div. Two and Judge John Segal in Div. Seven through November, and Judge Joanne B. O’Donnell in Div. Six through December.
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, Lee W. Tsao 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 Patrick Larkin retired July 13.
Retired Judge Robert London died Sept. 15. Retired Judge Nancy Brown died Oct. 7.

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

•AB 184 by Assemblymember Mike Gatto, D-Burbank, which would establish an extended statute of limitations in which to prosecute hit-and-run cases. The bill passed the Assembly May 29 by a vote of 76-0. As amended in the Senate Sept. 3, the bill’s delayed-discovery provision, which had been open-ended, will not permit prosecution more than six years after the offense is committed. The amended bill passed the Senate Sept. 9 by a vote of 37-0, then was sent back to the Assembly, where the amendments were concurred in Sept. 10 by a vote of 78-0. The bill was signed into law by the governor Oct. 12.

•AB 566, by Assemblymember Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, which would limit the ability of trial courts to contract out services previously performed by employees. The bill passed the Assembly May 30 by a vote of 51-25 and was sent to the Senate, where it passed as amended Sept. 12 by a vote of 22-12. The bill was vetoed Oct. 13 by the governor, who said it “requires California’s courts to meet overly detailed and in some cases nearly impossible requirements when entering into or renewing certain contracts” and that he was “unwilling to restrict the flexibility of our courts, as specified in this bill, as they face [budget] challenges.

•AB 1401, by the Assembly Judiciary Committee, which, as amended in the Senate June 10, would allow aliens who are lawful permanent residents to serve on juries. The bill, which passed the Assembly April 25 by a vote of 45-26, passed the Senate Aug. 19 by a vote of 25-11, and was sent back to the Assembly, which concurred in the amendments by a vote of 48-28 Aug. 22. It was vetoed Oct. 13 by the governor, who wrote: “Jury service, like voting, is quintessentially a prerogative and responsibility of citizenship. This bill would permit lawful permanent residents who are not citizens to serve on a jury. I don’t think that’s right.

•SB 463, by Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Calabasas, which would extend to Jan. 1, 2017, the sunset date of the law allowing judges imposing determinate sentences to select the lower, middle, or upper base term. The bill passed the Senate May 29 by a vote of 38-0, passed the Assembly Sept. 11 by a vote of 78-0, with amendments that were concurred in by the Senate the same day, 39-0, and was signed into law by the governor Oct.3.

•SB 649, by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, which would reduce penalties for possession of some controlled substances. The governor vetoed the bill Oct. 12, saying the timing was inappropriate because the state plans, under SB 105, “to examine in detail California’s criminal justice system, including the current sentencing structure…with the full participation of all necessary parties, including law enforcement, local government, courts and treatment providers.