Trying Times : Justice: Attorneys agree the judge who will sentence the Elys tries to do the right thing but not always at the right hour.

As the senior member of the Ventura County Superior Court, Judge Lawrence Storch is used to making decisions.

But rarely in his 17-year judicial career has Storch had to make decisions as widely awaited as those he is preparing to make on Friday.

At 1:30 p.m., Storch is scheduled to sentence James T. (Tom) Ely and his wife, Ingrid, for stealing public funds. Tom Ely, a trustee of the Ventura County Community College District, was convicted on 29 theft-related counts after a highly publicized trial in June. The jury convicted Ingrid Ely on three counts.

Under the law, Tom Ely could get anything from probation to six years in state prison. Ingrid Ely also is eligible for probation but could receive a sentence of up to three years in prison.

The man who will decide their fates has gained a reputation over the years as knowledgeable, even-tempered, sometimes lenient and almost always late.

“He seems to be someone who does what he thinks is right, and too bad what the public thinks,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. John Vanarelli, who spent about a year assigned to Storch’s court. “I think he’s a good judge.”

So do many other prosecutors and defense attorneys who routinely practice before Storch. Some prosecutors, however, fault Storch for tending to be pro-defense in his rulings and lenient in his sentencing. And some attorneys are infuriated by Storch’s chronic tardiness. They question whether it signifies a loss of interest in his job.

Storch, 57, denied that he is bored, but he acknowledged that he sometimes feels worn down by the job. And Storch, who was renowned as a civil judge for his ability to settle lawsuits, said he often feels frustrated by Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury’s policy against plea-bargaining, which prevents such settlements in most criminal cases.

In an interview last week, Storch repeated his view that the no-deals policy bogs down the system by forcing unnecessary trials. “I have maintained and continue to maintain that it does not accomplish anything,” the judge said. “Often, the district attorney would get the same result without it.”

Such criticism angers Bradbury, who sees it as a violation of his turf.

“This comes from a whiny judge who is unwilling to work hard and would be very happy if all of his cases went away through plea-bargaining,” Bradbury said when told of Storch’s comment. “What I have to say to Judge Storch is, if he wants the D.A. to plea-bargain, he ought to step down from the bench and run for district attorney. Then he could set the policies.”

On the positive side, Bradbury said, “his strengths are that he is fairly bright, and he is good at working out deals in civil cases. I think he tries to do the right thing.”

But one of the judge’s weaknesses, Bradbury said, is that he is chronically late to work.

“He can’t get his lazy rear end out of bed in time to get to work at a decent hour, and my lawyers have to wait around cooling their heels for him, which I don’t like,” Bradbury said.

Unlike the five other criminal-division Ventura County judges, who usually start work at 8:30 a.m., Storch doesn’t open his courtroom until 8:55 and rarely assumes the bench before 9:30 or even later.

The delays sometimes force not only attorneys but jurors and witnesses to endure long waits. “Is that real time or Storch time?” is an oft-repeated joke at the Hall of Justice.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Charles R. Roberts Sr. said Storch was “extremely patient and helpful” when the attorney started handling felony cases in his court. “But since then, this habit of tardiness is so gross that, in my opinion, it brings the judicial system into disrepute.”

“I am not the most prompt person there is,” Storch admitted. “It’s something I have to work on.”

“He’s just not a morning person,” said Vernon Markley, Storch’s bailiff for 13 years. But Markley and several other court personnel said Storch more than makes up for his midmorning starts by staying late and taking work home.

“With someone as efficient and productive as he is, I’m certainly not going to check to see if he’s punching a time clock,” Presiding Judge Edwin M. Osborne said. “I should get such productivity out of everybody.”

As for being lenient, prosecutors agreed that Storch tends to go easier on defendants than some other judges, but the attorneys differed on whether he should be faulted for it.

“He’s somewhat lenient on sentencing but not unduly so,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Peter D. Kossoris said. “He’s reasonably predictable where a judge ought to be predictable. He doesn’t give out crazy rulings or crazy sentences. There are judges who are totally unpredictable.”

Vanarelli agreed that Storch is “not a wild card.” To the extent Storch is lenient, Vanarelli said, it is “not because he is soft but because he is trying to accomplish an end.”

For example, he said, when Storch was a juvenile judge he was lenient because, “in his view, juvenile court is for rehabilitation.”

“So you try a lot of things to get the kid on the right track before you send him to the Youth Authority,” Vanarelli said. “You may not agree with his philosophy but there was a method to it.”

On the subject of sentencing, Storch would say only that “the essence of the job is to exercise judgment. You should not be restricted unduly by sets of rules. The guidelines give judges latitude, and they ought to use it.”

One prosecutor, who asked not to be identified, said that, when sentencing, Storch puts too much stock in an early guilty plea. “You feel he will do anything to process a case--grant probation where it’s not really justified, give a mitigated sentence where the midterm sentence is more appropriate.”

Bradbury described Storch as “a fairly lenient sentencer, which on occasion has resulted in additional victimizations.”

He was alluding to two cases in which Storch facilitated the release of defendants who promptly committed more crimes.

In April, 1987, Storch was asked to jail a juvenile named Eric Chappell who had failed to make restitution to a burglary victim, as required by the terms of Chappell’s probation. The judge allowed Chappell to remain free one more week to raise money to repay the victim.

The next day, Chappell shot and killed a Ventura service station operator during a holdup. He was convicted of murder and sentenced by another judge to life without parole.

In a 1989 case, Storch lowered a rape suspect’s bail from the standard $20,000 to $5,000, against the recommendation of a probation investigator who said the suspect had a history of violence.

After posting bail, the man raped another woman, threatening her with a screwdriver. He eventually pleaded guilty in both cases.

George C. Eskin, a former prosecutor and now a private criminal defense attorney, said it is unfair to criticize Storch for decisions that look bad in hindsight.

“I’m not surprised to hear the D.A. whining about a judge being too lenient,” Eskin said. “Whenever a judge doesn’t do exactly what the D.A. wants, he’s a crybaby.

Eskin praised Storch as “one of the few judges who is not intimidated by the district attorney.”

Away from the courthouse, Storch plays golf and tennis and indulges his passion for classical music by attending concerts of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

He learned to play piano while growing up in Queens, N.Y., but today he makes music only when he occasionally gets behind the drums for an oldies band made up of his bailiff and other courthouse personnel. Divorced with two grown children, Storch lives in Somis near the Saticoy Country Club.

Storch got a bachelor’s degree in political science at Queens College of the City University of New York before obtaining his law degree at St. John’s University in 1955. He practiced in New York City and Los Angeles before taking a job with the Ventura County district attorney’s office in 1965. A year later, he and a partner set up private practice in Camarillo.

In 1973, the Superior Court judges selected him to be a Superior Court commissioner to handle domestic relations cases. Former Gov. Jerry Brown named him to a judgeship in 1977.

“I’ve got a very good job,” said Storch, who is paid $99,297 a year. But, he added, “the responsibility of making so many decisions that affect so many lives--it grinds you down a bit.”

And the job has become increasingly political, he said.

“The public perceives judges as a weakness in the linkage of crime and punishment,” he said. “They have the misapprehension that judges are soft on crime. . . . It’s very distressing to me. The judiciary’s strength derives from the public’s respect. When that is diminished by politics and sensationalism, it does incalculable harm to the system.”

Storch has never been opposed in three election bids, most recently in 1990. But he said his current six-year term will be his last.

“When I started my judicial career, I was of the view that I would never think of retiring,” he said. “That was an abomination. Now I think most people in the judiciary retire after they are fully vested” in the pension system.

After retirement, Storch said, he wouldn’t mind returning to the bench from time to time as a retired judge. “Then I could do it when I want to do it,” he said.