Deukmejian Favors Prosecutors as Judges

Gov. George Deukmejian has appointed women to be San Diego judges in slightly greater percentages than did his predecessor, Edmund G. Brown Jr., who was noted for naming a lot of women to the bench, a review of the two governors’ records shows.

The same study demonstrates that Brown was more than three times as likely to appoint minority members to San Diego judgeships than is Deukmejian, who has named just four nonwhites out of the 64 San Diego judgeships he has filled since 1983.

But the clearest difference between the two chief executives comes from Deukmejian’s penchant for choosing judges from the ranks of government prosecutors. Deukmejian has been five times more likely than Brown to name a prosecutor to the bench.

The numbers were culled by The Times from press releases on judicial appointments provided by the Deukmejian Administration and from the state Archives, which has a set of Brown’s news releases in its files.

The documents showed that Brown filled 75 Municipal, Superior and Appellate Court judgeships in San Diego when he was governor, from 1975 until early 1983. Deukmejian, who still has 2 1/2 years remaining on his second term, has already appointed 60 San Diego trial court judges and four state appellate court justices for San Diego.

Court-to-Court Promotions

Both governors often appointed lawyers to the Municipal Court and then promoted them to Superior Court, and, sometimes, the appellate courts. In such cases, the numbers cited here count the same lawyers twice or three times--once for each time they were appointed to a judgeship.

Brown appointed 15 women--10 to the Municipal Court and 5 to Superior Court--for a total of 20% of his San Diego appointees. Deukmejian has named one woman to the 4th District Court of Appeal, three women to the Superior Court, and nine to Municipal Court, accounting for 20.3% of his 64 selections.

Brown appointed at least 15 minority members to the San Diego bench. Deukmejian has named just four: one black, two Latinos and an Asian. On the Superior Court, 28 of Deukmejian’s 33 appointments have been white males.

Deukmejian, who as attorney general was California’s top prosecutor before he was elected governor, has named 22 active prosecutors to the trial and appellate benches, and has chosen 31 others who had experience as prosecutors at the federal, state, county or municipal level.

Among the active prosecutors chosen by Deukmejian have been 10 who worked for the district attorney’s office, 7 from the state attorney general’s office, 4 from the U.S. attorney’s office, and a deputy city attorney.

Brown appointed five active prosecutors and 17 former prosecutors to the bench, most of them to the Municipal Court. He never appointed an active prosecutor directly to the Superior Court in San Diego or to the Court of Appeal.

When Brown did choose a prosecutor, he was more likely to find one who had experience in an area outside the nuts-and-bolts kind of criminal law that makes up the bulk of the district attorney’s workload. One prosecutor chosen by Brown had worked in the public resources unit, prosecuting violators of environmental law. Another prosecuted consumer fraud, and still another was a specialist in white collar crime.

Several of the prosecutors or former prosecutors chosen by Brown also had extensive experience as criminal defense attorneys, as did most of the private practitioners Brown named to the bench. At least 24 of the 75 San Diego judges Brown named had been associated with Federal Defenders Inc., the Legal Aid Society of San Diego, the California Rural Legal Assistance program, or some other nonprofit group that provides legal representation for people who cannot afford to pay for their own defense.

Deukmejian, by contrast, has named just one judge who worked as a public defender--Municipal Judge Christine Goldsmith, who worked for Defenders Inc. during 1977 and 1978.

Deukmejian’s judges, on average, have come to the bench with roughly the same age and experience as did Brown’s choices.

On the Superior Court, the average age of Deukmejian’s appointments has been 46.9 years, with the youngest being 36 and the eldest 58. The appointees averaged more than 21 years of experience as lawyers before they were named to the bench.

Brown’s Superior Court judges were an average of 45.9 years old when they were appointed.

As would be expected, both governors appointed younger lawyers to the Municipal Court. Deukmejian’s have been an average of 41.8 years old; Brown’s averaged 42.5.

No figures are available to measure the number of Democrats and Republicans appointed by Brown. Deukmejian has chosen 49 Republicans among his 60 trial court appointees.

Four Municipal Court judges originally appointed by Brown have been promoted by Deukmejian to the Superior Court. All are white males, and three worked as prosecutors before moving to the bench.

GOV. DEUKMEJIAN’S JUDICIAL APPOINTEES

Statewide appointees

587 appointments made

Men 499 85% Women 88 15% White 522 89% Latino 26 4% Asian 21 4% Black 18 3%

San Diego County Municipal Court appointees

27 appointments made

Men 18 67% Women 9 33% White 24 89% Minorities 3 11% (one black, one Latino, one Asian) Democrat 3 11% Republican 23 85% No party 1 4% Former government attorneys 22 81%

San Diego County Superior Court appointees

33 appointments made

Men 30 91% Women 3 9% White 32 97% Latino 1 3% Democrat 7 21% Republican 26 79% Elevated from Municipal Court 16 48% Former government attorneys 26 79%

4th District Court of Appeal

Four appointments made

Men 3 75% Women 1 25% White 4 100% Democrat 1 25% Republican 3 75% Elevated from Superior Court 4 100% Former government attorneys 4 100%

Law school attended

64 San Diego County judgeships

San Diego County law schools 27 42% University of San Diego 17 26% Cal Western 10 16%