Friday, April 8, 2005
Page 3
Governor Nominates Monterey Jurist to Sixth District Appellate Court
By KENNETH OFGANG, Staff Writer
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday nominated Monterey Superior Court Judge Wendy Clark Duffy to the Sixth District Court of Appeal,
Duffy, 53, has served as a Monterey Superior Court judge since 1999. Previously, she served as a Monterey County Municipal Court judge from 1989 to 1999, and is credited with founding the Drug Treatment Court in collaboration with the Monterey County departments of health and probation.
She was the first woman to be appointed to each of those courts, the governor’s office noted in a press release. Before being named to the bench, she served as a Monterey County deputy district attorney for 11 years, and was the county’s first prosecutor assigned as a specialist in sex crimes.
She earned a bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley and went on to graduate from Boalt Hall School of Law there.
If confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments, Duffy, a Republican, will succeed Justice William M. Wunderlich, who retired from state court service a year ago to become U.S. magistrate judge based in Yosemite National Park.
When considering Sixth District nominations, the Commission on Judicial Appointments consists of Chief Justice Ronald M. George, Attorney General Bill Lockyer, and Presiding Justice Conrad Rushing.
Schwarzenegger yesterday also named new judges to two superior courts.
Deputy Attorney General Morris Beatus, 57, was named to the Alameda Superior Court. He has spent 20 years in the attorney general’s San Francisco office, most recently handling death penalty habeas corpus cases in federal court.
He was a senior attorney for the Administrative Office of the Courts from 1982 to 1985. He holds a Ph.D. degree from the University of Wisconsin, a law degree from the University of San Francisco, and a bachelor’s degree from Brooklyn College.
He is not affiliated with a political party.
Siskiyou Superior Court Commissioner Laura J. Masunaga was named a judge of that court. A 23-year practitioner in the county, she was a certified family law specialist and also served as a deputy public defender from 1984 to 1989.
Masunaga is a graduate of Boalt Hall School of Law and Stanford University and is a Democrat.
Copyright 2005, Metropolitan News Company