U.S. Public Defender Named to L.A. Bench

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday appointed Maria E. Stratton, the first woman to serve as the chief federal public defender in Los Angeles, to the Los Angeles County Superior Court bench.

Stratton, 52, ran the nation’s largest federal public defenders office, with 183 employees -- including 65 lawyers -- handling 3,500 new cases annually in its criminal, appellate and capital habeas divisions.

Before taking that job in 1993, Stratton was a deputy federal public defender and was in private practice, where she specialized in criminal defense work as well as wrongful discharge and civil rights cases.

“I’m really going to miss the office, and it’s hard to think of leaving such a group of talented and dedicated lawyers,” the Los Angeles Democrat said Friday. “But it’s very exciting to learn by delving into new areas of the law and learning how to be a judge.”

Also named to the bench were Christina L. Hill, who served as a Los Angeles County Superior Court commissioner since 1998, and Craig Richman, a deputy district attorney since 1986.

Hill, a 54-year-old Democrat from Los Angeles, served as a court referee and was a senior litigator for the state Office of Trial Counsel. She also worked as a sole practitioner, specializing in criminal law and juvenile delinquency cases.

Richman, 47, a Republican from Chatsworth, worked most recently as a calendar trial deputy at the downtown criminal courthouse. He also served as an assistant head deputy and a supervisor of the Target Crimes Division under Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley. Richman prosecuted crimes against police officers and hundreds of felony trials.