Retired Judge, 2 Lawyers to Be Honored

A recently retired Superior Court judge and two public defenders will be honored Friday night for their contributions to the Ventura County criminal-justice system.

Judge James McNally, who retired in March, and Deputy Public Defenders Susan R. Olson and Howard J. Asher will receive the Joyce Yoshioka Award from the county Criminal Defense Bar Assn. The award is named for Yoshioka, the former chief deputy public defender who died in 1990 at age 42 of ovarian cancer. At the time, she was the highest-ranking woman in any public defender’s office in the state.

The presentations will take place at 6 p.m. Friday at the Harbortown Resort in Ventura. Reservation can be made by calling 654-3017.

McNally, 60, retired for medical reasons after 12 years on the Ventura County bench. A native Iowan, he has been known as a conservative on fiscal matters but a liberal when it comes to upholding the Constitution, which won him praise from the defense bar.

He was found to have polio as a teen-ager and retired because of Post-Polio Syndrome.

Olson and Asher--both Ventura College graduates--recently defended 20-year-old Mark Scott Thornton, who shot and killed Westlake nurse Kellie O’Sullivan.

Although a judge sentenced Thornton to die, the case put together by Olson and Asher has been called one of the most compelling death-penalty defenses ever presented in the county.