Governor Appoints Three San Diegans to Court of Appeal

Gov. George Deukmejian on Friday appointed three San Diegans to the 4th District Court of Appeal, including the judge who presided over the Craig Peyer murder trials and an attorney who resigned from the bench six years ago partly out of frustration with the criminal justice system.

Superior Court Judge Richard Huffman, a one-time deputy district attorney who prosecuted former Mayor Roger Hedgecock, will fill a vacancy created by the retirement early this year of Justice Edward T. Butler.

Also appointed Friday were North County Superior Court Judge Gilbert Nares and Charles Froehlich, who stepped down from the trial court bench in 1982 after a decade as a judge. Nares, 45, and Froehlich, 59, will fill newly created positions on the appellate court.

Confirmation Required

The appointments, which require confirmation by the state Commission on Judicial Appointments, ended months of speculation about who the governor would place on the expanding court. Including the three appointments announced Friday, Deukmejian has now named six of the eight judges on the appellate bench for the 4th District, which covers San Diego and Imperial counties.

Huffman, 49, had been considered a favorite for a seat by many local pundits. Most recently, Huffman made headlines as the judge who presided over the two trials of Peyer, the former California Highway Patrol officer convicted in June of first-degree murder.

At Peyer’s sentencing, the judge attracted attention by lambasting the CHP for its failure to respond to citizen complaints about Peyer. The agency’s conduct, Huffman opined from the bench in a voice choked with emotion, “led inexorably to (the death of Cara Knott) sure as the sun came up this morning.”

But for many, Huffman’s was a household name long before the Peyer case. As a lawyer in the San Diego County district attorney’s office, he prosecuted Hedgecock for perjury and conspiracy in a trial that ended with a jury deadlocked, 11-1, in favor of conviction. Hedgecock was convicted after a second trial.

Soon after the first Hedgecock trial, Huffman--who held the No. 2 spot in the district attorney’s office--was named to the Superior Court by Deukmejian. There, he quickly earned a reputation as a hard-working, scholarly judge with a temperament well-suited for the bench. Prosecutors and defense attorneys alike generally praised him as fair, although he generated some grumbling for a series of anti-defense rulings in the second Peyer trial.

On Friday, Huffman was vacationing with relatives in Long Beach and unavailable for comment. His peers, however, were quick to praise him.

“I have mixed emotions,” said Presiding Superior Court Judge Michael Greer. “I’m losing a super trial judge and my job is to get cases tried. On the other hand, I’m gaining a tremendous appellate justice for the division I work under and I can’t imagine a better scholar or appellate justice.”

Superior Court Judge Judith McConnell expressed similar sentiments, calling Huffman “extremely hard-working” and “one of those rocks that you rely upon.”

Huffman also was a deputy state attorney general for five years and served as director of the now-defunct Center for Criminal Justice Policy and Management at the University of San Diego School of Law, where he frequently teaches.

In addition, he serves on a powerful local committee handpicked by Deukmejian to advise him on judicial appointments in San Diego.

Lured Back to Bench

Froehlich, a former tax law professor at UC Berkeley’s law school, was in private practice for 13 years in San Diego before he was appointed to the Superior Court bench in 1972 by Gov. Ronald Reagan. Described as a “man for all seasons” by Greer, Froehlich turned in his robe a decade later, aiming to spend time on the Escondido winery and acres of avocado groves he owned.

At the time, Froehlich--who many attorneys described as the best scholar on the bench--expressed deep frustration with the criminal justice system.

“Because of the increased complication, the criminal law process lacks the logic it once had,” Froehlich said in an interview with The Times when he resigned. “And judges are powerless to change that process. The blame belongs with the appellate courts and with the Legislature.”

Although he remembers those frustrations vividly, Froehlich said Friday that the judicial system has changed markedly since 1982, and continues to change under the newly constituted California Supreme Court.

“The appellate courts are substantially influenced by the state Supreme Court, and I believe the direction the Supreme Court is taking is very positive for the administration of justice,” Froehlich said. “One cause of the trial court congestion I found frustrating was the great proliferation of criminal procedures. That was directly related to the Bird Court and now the Lucas court is making some progress in that area.”

Like many Superior Court judges, Froehlich did a brief stint on the appellate court in 1981 and enjoyed the work.

“As an attorney, you start with the building bricks of the law and put them together. As a trial court judge, you hear (cases) for the first time and have to sort out the facts. Both of those involve a lot of wheel spinning,” Froehlich said.

Closer to the Source

By contrast, the appellate court is “at the end of a great amount of scholarly preparation” and “you are much closer to the pure practice of law. The disadvantage is you never see anybody.”

Nares, appointed to the Municipal Court by Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. in 1976, joins an exclusive club of judges who were appointed by Brown and elevated by Deukmejian. A former attorney in Oceanside, Nares was elevated by Brown to the Superior Court in 1978.

Like Huffman, Nares has been in the spotlight recently as the judge in a widely publicized murder trial--in this instance, the murder-for-hire case involving the death of Marine Staff Sgt. Carlo Troiani. After a five-month trial before Nares, Laura Troiani--the serviceman’s wife--was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.

There were five other defendants in the case; four pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and the fifth defendant was tried earlier this year. The jury deadlocked in that case and a second trial has been scheduled.

Those familiar with Nares described the diminutive man as a generally dispassionate, no-nonsense jurist who does not indulge courtroom histrionics. But at Laura Troiani’s sentencing, he unleashed a verbal barrage that took some attorneys by surprise.

Nares was on vacation Friday and could not be reached for comment.

Greer described him as an “outstanding team player and a fine judge who I recommended highly to the governor.”

The salary for appellate court justices is $97,003.