Countywide

Gov. George Deukmejian on Monday appointed a deputy U.S. attorney to the San Diego Municipal Court and promoted a North County Municipal Court judge to the Superior Court.

The governor, who had named three new San Diego Superior Court judges Friday, elevated Judge Zalman J. Scherer to the Superior Court bench.

Deukmejian also appointed Raymond Edwards, 38, chief of the criminal division of the U.S. attorney’s office in San Diego, to the downtown Municipal Court bench. Edwards had been with the U.S attorney’s office since 1979 and had been chief of the criminal division in San Diego since 1983.

The appointment of Scherer, 49, leaves two vacancies on the Superior Court, which will have 49 judges when fully staffed. Six judicial positions were added this year. Scherer had been a Municipal Court judge since 1978, when he was appointed by Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. Scherer was elected to that post four years later. Before becoming a judge, he had worked in the San Diego County district attorney’s office for 10 years.

A court spokesman said Scherer would likely be assigned to the North County courthouse in Vista.

Patricia Benke and Thomas Murphy, appointed to the Superior Court bench on Friday, had both begun working Monday in the downtown San Diego courthouse. But a court spokesman said the assignments may not be permanent.