Lawyers Equip Court to Increase Its Use

Lawyers from eastern Ventura County have taken it upon themselves to encourage greater use of the East County Courthouse in Simi Valley by donating equipment for the facility.

A formal ceremony has been scheduled for this evening3 when members of the East County Bar Assn. plan to turn over such things as a television, microwave oven and videocassette player that could be used by jurors while they wait for trial, said Keith Jajko, a spokesman for Supervisor Judy Mikels.

Judges have been conducting civil trials in the $11-million stucco building only since December, and there is still a lack of services for jurors serving on those trials, Jajko said.

“There just aren’t the amenities here,” he said. “There’s a need for everything from furniture to food services, and we’re working with the [East County Bar Assn.] to bring those things here.”

Although the courthouse opened in March 1991, up until December 1995, the only judge seen in the building was Stanley Weisberg, the Los Angeles County jurist who presided over the infamous Rodney G. King beating trial in 1992.

But in December, Melinda Johnson, the presiding judge of the Ventura County Superior Court, sent Superior Court Judges Ken Riley and Joe Hadden to hear civil cases in the courthouse.

Up until their appointment, the courthouse was staffed with two Ventura County court commissioners--jurists with lesser judicial powers--who worked part time hearing small-claims suits, divorce battles and traffic disputes.

Since the appointments, the courthouse has had a steady stream of cases, and east county lawyers want to keep that going, hoping eventually to have criminal cases also heard there, Jajko said. The ceremony will start at 5 p.m. at the courthouse at 3855 Alamo St., Simi Valley.