Storch Honored as a Judge of the Year

A veteran Ventura County judge targeted by prosecutors last year in a campaign to remove him from criminal cases has been named the 1994 Superior Court Judge of the Year.

Judge Lawrence Storch received the award at the annual Judges Night sponsored by the Ventura County Trial Lawyers Assn. Also honored at the event was Judge Thomas Hutchins, the 1994 Municipal Court Judge of the Year.

The awards recognize judges who have demonstrated exceptional wisdom, patience, wit, understanding and compassion. The honorees are selected by a committee representing prosecutors and criminal defense attorneys, civil plaintiff and defense attorneys, and business litigators.

Storch, who presided over criminal cases for several years, was transferred to the civil department after the district attorney’s office announced last year it would disqualify him from all criminal cases. Although several prosecutors said privately that they disagreed with the office policy--and some refused to follow it--the move eventually reduced Storch’s criminal caseload to the point that he was transferred to civil cases.

The district attorney’s office never publicly announced a reason for its move against Storch, but the action was taken shortly after Storch reduced a jury’s first-degree murder conviction to second-degree murder.

Also at Judges Night, the association unveiled a portrait of retired Superior Court Judge Robert J. Soares. The painting will be hung with other judicial portraits in Courtroom 22 at the Hall of Justice in Ventura.