Gov. Picks 7 County and State Jurists

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed four Republicans and a Democrat to the Los Angeles County Superior Court bench Friday and nominated a veteran trial jurist, a Republican, to the state appellate court.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Victoria M. Chavez, 52, of Manhattan Beach was named to succeed retiring Justice Michael Nott on the 2nd District Court of Appeal. A Loyola Law School graduate, Chavez was in private practice before becoming a judge in 1979.

Her elevation must be confirmed by the state Commission on Judicial Appointments.

The new Superior Court judges are Republicans Robert P. Applegate, Daniel S. Murphy, Margaret L. Oldendorf and Otis D. Wright, and Democrat Mike Camacho.

Applegate, 55, of La Canada Flintridge, has served as a court commissioner and referee since 1997. A UCLA law graduate, he worked for 21 years in a general law practice.

Murphy, 43, of Yorba Linda, has worked in the Long Beach city attorney’s office and the Long Beach city prosecutor’s office for the past 17 years. He holds a degree from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

Oldendorf, 47, of Pasadena, was a civil litigator in private practice for more than a decade before becoming senior staff counsel for the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Assn. in 1996. She also graduated from Loyola Law School.

Wright, 61, of Rancho Palos Verdes, was a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy for 11 years before joining the state Department of Justice as an attorney. He has been a partner in the law firm of Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman & Dicker in Los Angeles since 1983. He graduated from Southwestern University School of Law.

The only Democrat in the group, Camacho, 44, of San Dimas, has been a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney since 1988. He holds a law degree from Western State University.

Superior Court judges are paid $149,160; appellate justices, $170,694.

Schwarzenegger also named Douglas E. Weathers, 50, of Riverside to the Riverside County Superior Court. A graduate of Western State University College of Law, he has been a lawyer for 24 years, specializing in personal injury law. He is a Democrat.