As Jerry Brown’s Gang Wanes, the Judges Are Judged

The old Jerry Brown gang is breaking up at the Court of Appeal in Santa Ana.

With two recent departures, only one of the four original justices appointed by the Democratic governor more than 17 years ago remains. But the Democrats stuck together through four Republican gubernatorial terms, long enough to see another Democratic governor take office.

They debated heatedly and often behind closed doors, but as a group were unafraid to anger prosecutors, other judges and even governors with their decisions. While not always liberal, they often seemed that way to Orange County’s conservatives.

Justice Edward J. Wallin once told me, “If you wanted a judge who would just make popular decisions, you could put a robot in this job.”

The Santa Ana division of the court’s 4th District was created in 1982, just before then Gov.-elect George Deukmejian took over appointments from Gov. Edmund G. “Jerry” Brown.

Even as the court grew to six justices into the late ‘90s, it was the only division in the state without a Republican-appointed majority.

But Wallin left in February, then Justice Sheila P. Sonenshine last month. That leaves Justice Thomas F. Crosby Jr. as the last of the original four. And Crosby is talking about retirement once he reaches 20 years in the job in two years. (Justice John K. Trotter left in 1987.)

Yes, Crosby told me in an interview, it is nice that Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat, will get to make all judicial appointments now, “to help the court’s pendulum even out a little.” Crosby said the Legislature, responding to public fear of crime, has limited judges’ discretionary powers to the point that the job’s not what it used to be.

“We used to talk a lot about reform and rehabilitation,” Crosby said. “But those are now like failed gods people no longer put faith in. Now it’s all punishment and draconian measures.”

This year’s swift change in the Santa Ana appellate court’s make-over made me think back to early 1982, when the original four signaled the kind of court they’d be in a dramatic face-off with Deukmejian.

He was attorney general then, one of three on the commission that had to approve the appointments. Deukmejian asked all four, both in writing and in person, their views on the death penalty, which he firmly supported.

The four were polite and worded their responses delicately--after all, they wanted his vote. But they were firm: Their personal views on capital punishment were none of his business. Their job was to follow the Constitution.

They were all confirmed 2 to 1, Deukmejian voting against the bunch.

Crosby says now he regrets his answers to Deukmejian:

“I took the high road. I wish now I’d just told him what I really thought of him.”

Here are just two dramatic decisions by the court that proved unpopular with the public:

* It angered Mothers Against Drunk Driving when it threw out the high-profile 1986 second-degree murder conviction of drunk driver Michael Reding, whose vehicle ran into another car, killing a mother and all three of her children. It was the first time the Orange County district attorney’s office had sought a murder conviction in a driving case under a new law.

* It sent back the second-degree murder conviction of Vincent Michael Acosta, who led police on a high-speed chase in 1987 that resulted in the deaths of three people when two helicopters from Costa Mesa and Newport Beach collided while following the pursuit. The court found he could not be convicted of more than vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence because his cross-city driving pattern had not led to the collision.

In a new trial, Reding was convicted of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.

But the appellate justices especially upset former Dist. Atty. Mike Capizzi when they threw out his civil charges against two county supervisors over the bankruptcy debacle.

One happy-ending story was when the justices set aside a 1982 rape conviction of David Navarro of Sante Fe Springs. He had been found asleep on the beach in Huntington Beach right after a young woman had been gang-raped.

After his release on bail pending a new trial, Navarro went undercover for the police with a hidden body recorder to gather evidence against five acquaintances. The recordings not only proved his innocence, they led to the other five pleading guilty to the rape.

His years on the appellate court have brought great moments of satisfaction, Crosby said, and the Brown appointees did tend to share similar political philosophies.

“But we certainly didn’t always agree on everything,” Crosby said.

Actually, there is little room for political thought on most cases that reach the court, where one side or the other is appealing a decision out of Superior Court. About 95% of the cases are straightforward, Crosby said.

“It’s in areas like the homeless, or civil rights, where differing philosophies come into play,” he said.

During the Deukmejian/Pete Wilson years, appointments to the bench were more conservative, which the Democratic Crosby confides “has been frustrating in some ways.”

But Crosby isn’t so soured on the process that he plans to retire any time soon, unless the right offer comes along.

Wallin took a lucrative position as a private judge with a mediation service. Sonenshine left to help a friend form EquiCo., a mergers and acquisitions firm.

If Crosby does leave, it might be to teach or to do more writing. Crosby recently wrote the opening piece for the inaugural edition of Chapman University’s law school review. It was about James W. Towner, the county’s first Superior Court judge elected in 1889. (In the first jury trial, an accused horse thief was acquitted.)

The Santa Ana division’s presiding justice, David G. Sills, has already written to Gov. Davis urging him to quickly make appointments to replace Wallin and Sonenshine. Said his staff attorney, Jeff Calkins:

“The workload for the four justices is extremely heavy. Until the replacements come, they’ll have to carry the burden.”

Jerry Hicks’ column appears Monday and Thursday. Readers may reach Hicks by calling (714) 564-1049 or e-mail to jerry.hicks@latimes.com