Governor Promotes Two County Judges to Superior Court

Gov. George Deukmejian on Wednesday promoted two Orange County Municipal Court judges to the Superior Court bench, filling vacancies created by two recent retirements.

Deukmejian named Richard L. Weatherspoon to replace Judge William Thomson and appointed C. Robert Jameson to replace Judge James Ortega Perez.

Jameson, 47, of Anaheim is a former prosecutor who served as district attorney of Yolo County from 1970 until 1978, when he was defeated in a bid for reelection. He moved to Orange County a year later and opened a criminal defense practice in Santa Ana. In 1981, he joined the firm of Lazof & Swanson.

Deukmejian appointed him to the Municipal Court in 1984.

‘Fairly Conservative’

In an interview Wednesday, Jameson, who graduated from UC Davis and the Hastings College of Law, described himself as “fairly conservative.”

“I guess you can say I fit the classic mold of the Dukie,” Jameson said. “My philosophy is as close as you can get to Gov. Deukmejian’s in terms of being pretty firm but, I think, fair.”

Since October, Jameson has been in charge of felony arraignments and the preliminary hearing calendar in Municipal Court, making his courtroom the first stop for most of central Orange County’s suspected felons.

Weatherspoon, 52, also of Anaheim, practiced family and criminal law in Santa Ana from 1969 until 1984, when Deukmejian appointed him to the Municipal Court.

Weatherspoon began his professional career in 1952 as a fingerprint examiner for the FBI in Washington. He served as an FBI agent from 1962 until 1965.

A graduate of the University of Hawaii and the Hastings College of Law, Weatherspoon first practiced law in 1965 as a partner with attorney William F. Garman in Anaheim.

Weatherspoon could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Both judges, who will be paid $81,505 a year, will replace jurists who were appointed to the bench in 1966 by former Gov. Edmund G. (Pat) Brown. Perez, of Fullerton, and Thomson, of Orange, were later elevated to the Superior Court by former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr.

Jameson and Weatherspoon were both favorably recommended for judgeships by the Orange County Bar Assn., which investigates and rates all sitting judges who seek promotions to the Superior Court, said Cliff Frieden, chairman of the bar’s judiciary committee.