O’Leary Gets Appellate Nomination

Orange County’s presiding Superior Court judge was nominated Tuesday for a position on the 4th District Court of Appeal, and two attorneys were named Superior Court judges.

If her nomination is approved by the Commission of Judicial Appointments, Kathleen O’Leary, who two years ago became the first woman to head the Orange County Superior Court, will fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Sheila Prell Sonenshine, said Michael Bustamante, a spokesman for Gov. Gray Davis, who made the appointments.

Assistant Dist. Atty. James P. Marion and Gregory Munoz, a civil attorney, will fill vacancies on the Superior Court bench, Bustamante said.

Marion will succeed David O. Carter, now a federal judge; Munoz will replace retired Judge Theodore Millard, Bustamante said.

It was not immediately known when the commission, which consists of the chief justice of the California Supreme Court, the attorney general and the senior presiding justice of the 4th District Court of Appeal, will take up the issue of the nomination.

If confirmed, O’Leary, 48, of Orange, would earn $134,935 a year. She was appointed to the Orange County Superior Court by Gov. George Deukmejian in 1986 and has been presiding judge for the last two years.

O’Leary, the daughter of a police officer, earned a bachelor of arts degree from Marymount College and a juris doctorate from Southerwestern School of Law. Before becoming a judge, she was a private attorney and an Orange County deputy public defender.

Marion, 46, of Mission Viejo has been in the Orange County D.A.’s office for 18 years.

Both he and Munoz, 62, of Newport Beach, will receive annual salaries of $117,912. Munoz, began his career as a Los Angeles deputy district attorney and since 1969 has been a partner in the firm of Munoz & Swift.