Thursday, March 30, 2006
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Schwarzenegger Names Deputy District Attorney Goul Judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday named Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Richard M. Goul to a judgeship in the Los Angeles Superior Court.
Goul, 48, has served as a deputy district attorney since 1989. He is currently deputy-in-charge of the sexual assault unit in the Long Beach branch of the District Attorney’s Office.
Goul was a law clerk for the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office from 1986 to 1989. He also served on the Cerritos College Board of Trustees from 1979 to 1985.
Goul earned a law degree from Loyola Law School and an undergraduate degree from the University of Southern California. He fills the vacancy created by the death of Judge Robert Sandoval.
Goul is registered decline-to-state. The Newport Beach resident recently gave a $100 campaign contribution to Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, records show.
Goul has been a prosecutor in a number of high-profile sex crimes prosecutions, including that of Mark Wayne Rathbun, dubbed the “Belmont Shore rapist” for the upscale area of Long Beach where most of his crimes were committed. Rathbun was convicted of 14 counts of residential burglary and 25 counts of forcible rape, crimes committed over a five-year period.
He was sentenced to 10 life terms plus 1,030 years.
Goul also prosecuted Raul Mendoza, sentenced last year to 15 years to life in prison for the murder of his 2-year-old daughter, and Marvin Jackson, who was a Los Angeles police officer prior to being arrested for a sexual assault on a 16-year-old Explorer scout. Jackson, who was diagnosed with the AIDS virus years before the crime occurred, was sentenced to 52 months in prison.
The appointment leaves the court with three vacancies. A fourth is to occur tomorrow when the retirement of Judge Richard Denner becomes official.
Copyright 2006, Metropolitan News Company