New Superior Court Executive Committee Takes Office

Thursday, January 3, 2002

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New Superior Court Executive Committee Takes Office

By a MetNews Staff Writer

A new Los Angeles Superior Court Executive Committee took office yesterday following December balloting.

Committee members, who together make policy for the nation’s largest trial court, are elected by the court’s 429 judges by geographic region. Judges of the large Central District electing seven members and judges from each of the court’s 11 outlying districts electing one representative each.

Central District judges elected Aviva Bobb, Lawrence Crispo, Stephen Czuleger, Maureen Duffy-Lewis, Kenneth Freeman, Jon Mayeda and David Wesley from the court’s Central District.

Also elected were Judges Ronald S. Coen, Coleman A. Swart, Peter Espinoza, James L. Wright, Jerry E. Johnson, George Genesta, John Reid, John S. Fisher, Laura Matz, Frank Y. Jackson, and Thomas Sokolov.

In separate balloting, the court’s 142 commissioners elected Loren M. Di Frank and Jeffrey Marckese.

The committee is chaired by presiding Judge James Bascue. Assistant Presiding Judge Robert A. Dukes is vice chair.

Also serving on the Executive Committee as ex officio members are Juvenile Court Presiding Judge Michael Nash, Civil Court Supervising Judge R. Gary Klausner, Criminal Court Supervising Judge Dan T. Oki, and Executive Officer/Clerk John Clarke.

Ballots went out to judges on Nov. 28 and were due back Dec. 5. Results were tabulated Dec. 17 but not public until yesterday.

Coen was elected by his colleagues in the North Valley District, which is headquartered in San Fernando and includes courthouses in Valencia and Sylmar. Fisher was elected In the Northwest District, which covers two courthouses in Van Nuys.

Jackson was elected by his colleagues in the North District in the Antelope Valley, which includes courthouses in Lancaster and Palmdale.

Swart was picked by judges of the Pasadena-based Northeast District, which takes in the courthouses in Alhambra and Monrovia. Matz was elected by judges of the North Central District in Burbank and Glendale. Espinoza was selected by judges of the Southeast District, covering the courthouses in Norwalk, Huntington Park, Downey, Bellflower, South Gate and Whittier.

Wright was elected to represent the Long Beach-based South District, which includes courthouses in Catalina and San Pedro. Johnson was picked by judges of the South Central District in Compton, which includes the Lynwood Regional Justice Center.

Genesta was elected by Judges of the Pomona-based East District, which includes the Citrus Courthouse in West Covina and the Rio Hondo Courthouse in El Monte.

Reid was elected to represent the West District, which includes the courthouses in Santa Monica, Malibu, Beverly Hills, Culver City, West Los Angeles, and the new Airport Courthouse.

Sokolov was picked by judges of the Southwest District, based in Torrance and including the courthouses in Redondo Beach and Inglewood.

Yesterday also was the beginning of Bascue’s second year in his two-year term as presiding judge of the unified Superior Court. New courtroom assignments for 2002 also took effect yesterday.