Countywide : 2 Judges Installed in Crowded Ceremony

Two Ventura County judges were formally installed in their new jobs Friday in a crowded ceremony at the Hall of Justice in Ventura.

Sworn in were Kenneth R. Yegan, who recently moved up from Ventura County Superior Court to the 2nd District Court of Appeal, and Robert D. Aldrich, who took Yegan’s place on the Superior Court. Both men were appointed by former Gov. George Deukmejian shortly before he left office Jan. 7.

Superior Court Judge Steven Z. Perren administered the oath of office to Yegan, who will work in the appeal court’s Division 6 based in Ventura. Both Yegan and Perren began their careers as judges in 1983, when Yegan was named to the Ventura County Municipal Court and Perren to Superior Court.

“He has since outdistanced me,” Perren joked before the ceremony. Yegan replaced Justice Richard W. Abbe, who retired.

U.S. District Judge William John Rea Jr. administered the oath to Aldrich, who described him as a friend and mentor for more than 25 years.

Although the ceremony was held in Courtroom 22, the largest at the Hall of Justice, overcrowding forced some spectators to watch the ceremony on a closed-circuit television set up in the hallway outside.