Different Faces May Soften San Fernando Court’s Reputation for Tough Sentences : Law: Some defense attorneys are glad to see the hard-nosed head deputy D.A. retire. Two judges called pro-prosecution are being transferred.

The San Fernando Courthouse, known for handing out the toughest sentences in the county since it opened in 1983, will have a new look next year that some defense attorneys hope will soften that image.

Billy D. Webb, the hard-nosed head deputy district attorney in San Fernando who once filed felony charges against a man accused of stealing $1.49 worth of bologna, is retiring next month after eight years at the helm.

Superior Court Supervising Judge David M. Schacter and Judge Howard J. Schwab--whom defense attorneys accuse of having pro-prosecution leanings--are being transferred out of San Fernando, as is Judge Bert Glennon.

Taking Webb’s place will be Stephen L. Cooley, who now heads the Antelope Valley office, and the new judges will be Judith Ashmann, serving as supervising judge, and Michael Hoff and Shari Kreisler Silver. Ashmann and Hoff are coming from Van Nuys Superior Court, and Silver, who was recently appointed a Superior Court judge, is coming from Dependency Court in El Monte.

No one maintains statistics on the sentencing patterns of judges. But defense attorneys say they are optimistic that, based on the reputations of the three new judges for being fair, future sentences handed down in San Fernando will be consistent with those issued throughout the county.

“I would hope that this courthouse will fall in line with every other courthouse in the county, which doesn’t mean that defendants get off with light sentences, but rather that sentences are commensurate with other courthouses’, “ said Bill Weiss, head deputy public defender for the San Fernando Courthouse.

Philip Nameth, supervising attorney for Alternate Defense Counsel, a law office under contract with the county to represent indigent defendants, agreed.

“With the changes . . . we may get a fresh look at the game, but the field has never been level for the defense,” he said.

Cooley has hinted that he may be more favorable to settling cases out of court than his predecessor. “We want to set standards and policies so that justice as dispensed by the district attorney is evenhanded,” Cooley said. “There is value in evenhanded dispositions for similarly situated defendants.”

Since Weiss arrived in San Fernando in September, 1991, he has been fighting the system there.

He began by refusing to waive time in jury trials, forcing many cases to be transferred to other courthouses because all the courtrooms in San Fernando were busy.

Weiss said that in nearly all cases sent out, the sentences issued were less severe than what the district attorney’s office in San Fernando was willing to accept in a plea bargain.

For example, Weiss said, an attempted murder case in which prosecutors would not accept any settlement agreement was transferred to Van Nuys where the charge was reduced to attempted manslaughter and the defendant was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison.

Weiss said that a case of assault with a deadly weapon in which prosecutors would accept no fewer than two years in prison, and a robbery case in which the only acceptable bargain was seven years, were transferred to downtown central court, where the charges were dismissed.

“It took me no time to decide that we didn’t want to stay here. Why should we stay when we are getting the worst deals in the county?” Weiss said.

Schacter, who as supervising judge is responsible for assigning cases to courtrooms, said most of the cases were transferred because San Fernando did not have its full staffing of judges at the time. Now the court has the full number.

Another factor in keeping cases at the court is a change of procedure allowing a judge dealing with a civil case to postpone a civil matter to deal with a criminal case, rather than transfer it.

The number of transferred cases dropped from 35 in 1991 to six so far this year.

For nearly a year, Webb has been seeking and getting six-year terms in repeat drug-dealing cases, when the usual sentence elsewhere in the county is three years.

Weiss tried in May to fight Webb’s policy by asking Superior Court Judge Malcolm Mackey to bar the district attorney’s office from prosecuting such cases. Weiss argued that such a stance was an abuse of discretion.

Mackey denied the request.

The most recent battle between prosecutors and defense attorneys involved banning some jurists from hearing cases.

The public defender’s office is disqualifying Schwab from hearing many of its cases because of a belief that he is pro-prosecution.

Under state law, either side in a criminal case has the one-time right to disqualify a judge without cause, and have the case transferred to another judge.

“The consensus of the” defense “attorneys that have tried cases in front of him is that his rulings clearly favor the prosecution,” Weiss said. “They don’t feel they can get a fair trial in front of him.”

Schwab declined to discuss the matter.

On the prosecution side, the district attorney’s office refused last month to allow two commissioners to hear cases. Commissioners have the same qualifications as a judge but are appointed by the courts rather than being elected or appointed by the governor, and both sides must agree on having a particular commissioner hear a case.

Webb said prosecutors refused to stipulate Commissioner Gerald Richardson in Municipal Court because they question his knowledge of the law. They refused Commissioner Keith Clemens in Superior Court because they said he did not properly control his courtroom.

But Weiss maintains that the two commissioners were banned because they had run-ins with prosecutors, and Webb was flexing his muscles.

“It’s quite obvious that the D.A.’s office is upset every time it gets a ruling against it,” Weiss said. “It is simply a control issue.”

Webb’s decision to ban Clemens came after Clemens fined a prosecutor $500 for leaving his courtroom after being ordered to stay.

In September, Richardson withdrew from a drug case, saying that Webb threatened his job if he reduced a felony drug charge to a misdemeanor. Webb denied making the threat.

Last month, Richardson also exchanged words with a prosecutor over the start of a preliminary hearing.

Defense attorneys--many of whom would not speak on the record for fear of upsetting some judges--say cases that would be filed as misdemeanors in other courthouses are filed as felony cases in San Fernando.

Thom Tibor, a veteran deputy public defender who had been at San Fernando for two years before transferring to the downtown courts last month, said the D.A.’s office has a stronger voice in San Fernando than any other courthouse he has been in.

“They have very active people,” Tibor said. “They file everything. Certain judges are very receptive to them.”

But Webb makes no apologies for his tough stand on criminals.

“The idea is to get these people off the street,” he said. “If I’m convinced that a person is guilty, I would rather go to trial with a weak case and lose, rather than let the person get off easy.”

Webb said that in the 1987 case in which felony charges were filed against the man accused of stealing bologna, he was simply trying to put a man with prior convictions in prison. The charge was eventually reduced to a misdemeanor, but Webb defends the tactic and compared it to using tax violations to put mobster Al Capone behind bars.

Defense attorneys suggest that Webb’s tough stand on criminals has had a strong influence on the San Fernando judges.

Webb, however, laughs at the notion. “I think that is funny,” he said. “It’s very flattering, but it’s not true.”

The judges also deny it.

“Judges in the north Valley do not adhere to the wishes of either the district attorney or the public defender,” said Schacter, who is being transferred to Burbank to handle civil cases. “To assume otherwise would be an insult to the judiciary, and it would be a falsehood.”

Los Angeles Superior Court Presiding Judge-elect Robert M. Mallano, who made the new assignments, said they were routine, designed to place people where they would best suit the court system’s needs.

“None were made for any negative factors,” Mallano said.

Still, many in the San Fernando Courthouse believe that the changes were made at least in part because of the public defender’s office’s fight to bring sentencing in line with other courthouses.

“They want to break this group up,” said Webb, who admitted that his decision to retire was partly motivated by a belief that he would be transferred after Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti took office.

“It is a tragedy that the three judges are being moved,” Webb said. “They were good, solid judges who were not prone to give away the courthouse. They did not give repeat criminals slaps on the wrist. That position will now be diluted.”

None of the three San Fernando judges requested the new assignments, but none would complain about it.

“It was always my desire to stay in San Fernando the remainder of my judicial career, but we all adhere to the decisions of the presiding judge,” said Schacter.

Ashmann, as the new supervising judge, will play the biggest role if San Fernando’s image is to change.

Her supporters strongly praise her.

“I see her as an evenhanded, fair-minded judicial officer,” said Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Mark A. Kroecker, who has known Ashmann for eight years.

“She is absolutely an effective administrator,” said San Fernando Municipal Judge Juelann Cathey, who worked for Ashmann in Van Nuys when she supervised the Municipal Court. “She is absolutely fair, which doesn’t mean she’s not firm.”

“I can trust her to do the right thing,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert J. Shuit, who was the calendar deputy in the Ashmann court for two years. “She strikes a good balance between controlling her courtroom and fostering an atmosphere that allows lawyers to approach her.”

Ashmann would not discuss the sentencing practices at San Fernando.

The new head prosecutor in San Fernando may also contribute to a new image for the courthouse.

“There is an important place for case settlements,” said Cooley, a 19-year veteran prosecutor. “There are some obvious cases that will go to trial--such as murders, violent sexual assaults, recidivous criminals and some drug cases. But you evaluate the case, keeping in mind the limited judicial resources, and determine what is an appropriate disposition.”

Deputy Public Defender Charles Klum, who headed the office in the Antelope Valley for five years before transferring to the San Fernando office in May, 1991, said he considers Cooley to be “very fair” and “good at evaluating cases and reaching settlements.”

“I think it’s a good thing he’s coming here,” Klum said.