1 Sitting Judge Wins, 1 Loses : Municipal Court: A law professor wins the Citrus seat, and a controversial incumbent will stay on the bench in Rio Hondo.

A relatively unknown law professor unseated an incumbent judge and a controversial jurist fought off his opponent and bias charges to garner Municipal Court victories Tuesday.

Patrick Murphy, 37, a law professor who also has a small legal practice in Covina, defeated Citrus Municipal Judge Abraham Khan, 42, who was appointed to the bench in 1988. Murphy tallied 57% of the vote; Khan, 43%.

In the El Monte-based Rio Hondo Municipal Court, Judge Richard Van Dusen, 47, with 66% of the vote, overwhelmed El Monte attorney Bill Jacobson, 57, who received 34%.

The victories in both races could be chalked up to old-fashioned political campaigning.

“We took the real direct approach,” said Murphy’s campaign manager, Eric Miller. “We did some door-knocking. Judges usually just mail out things, but we didn’t have the funds to do any mailers.”

Murphy, who teaches at Glendale College of Law in Glendale, raised about $5,000 for his campaign, compared to about $24,000 reported by Khan, Miller said.

So Murphy and his supporters regularly walked the streets of the seven cities encompassed by the West Covina-based judicial district and handed out more than 7,000 flyers, Miller said.

Meanwhile, Khan relied on two campaign mailers, inclusion in two slate mailers and three newspaper advertisements.

In the Rio Hondo court race, a jubilant Van Dusen attributed his success to more than 300 volunteers who phoned voters, appeared at club meetings and walked precincts on his behalf.

Van Dusen and Jacobson had strong negatives to overcome.

Van Dusen was accused by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office of bias toward prosecutors, a charge he said was leveled against him because he insists on judicial independence and refuses to follow orders from Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner. As a result of the charges, Van Dusen has been under a blanket affidavit for nearly a year that bars him from handling criminal cases from the district attorney.

Jacobson, who previously served on the Rio Hondo bench for eight years, was dismissed in 1990 by the judges who appointed him to the temporary post. Jacobson was criticized for being hostile and arrogant.

Van Dusen said he benefited from his opponent’s negative reputation. The judge added that his victory and campaign support from San Gabriel Valley attorneys diminishes the accusations made by Reiner’s office.

“The district attorney should think of getting his own house in order instead of trying to run judges and the courts,” Van Dusen said. “I think the D.A.’s office is due for a major shake-up, and when that happens the affidavit will be lifted.”

Reiner faces a November runoff against his former chief deputy, Deputy Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti.