Countywide : Municipal Judge Toohey Elevated to Superior Court

Gov. Pete Wilson on Wednesday named Municipal Judge Richard F. Toohey a judge of the Orange County Superior Court.

Toohey, 45, of San Juan Capistrano has been a judge in Municipal Court in Newport Beach since 1989. He served as presiding judge of that court in 1992.

Toohey replaces Judge Richard Parslow, who retired last year.

“I’m very honored by the appointment. I had the opportunity for many years of working in Superior Court” as a prosecutor, Toohey said Wednesday. “It’s a real honor to serve on the Orange County Superior Court.”

Toohey was a deputy district attorney for 12 years before joining the Municipal Court. Toohey spent most of that time prosecuting murders, including the high-profile cases of two Huntington Beach women convicted of killing their husbands for insurance money in 1984.

“He’s got great experience,” said defense lawyer Gary M. Pohlson, who went to college with Toohey and is president of the Orange County Bar Assn. “He’s known as a really fair judge, a fair person.”

Toohey, who is married and has three children, graduated from the University of Santa Clara in 1972 and received his law degree from Loyola University School of Law in Los Angeles in 1976.

Toohey is a past member of the Orange County Bar Assn., the California District Attorneys Assn. and the Assn. of Orange County Deputy District Attorneys. He is currently a member of the California Judges Assn.

The annual salary for Superior Court judges is about $107,000.