Governor Fills Vacancies on Superior, Municipal Courts

Gov. George Deukmejian has appointed six judges to the Los Angeles County Superior Court system and five judges to area municipal courts.

Named to the $89,851-a-year Superior Court positions were:

* Lance Ito, 38, of Pasadena. Ito was a Los Angeles County Municipal Court judge appointed in 1987.

* Philip Hickok, 42, of Cerritos. Hickok had been an attorney for the Los Angeles County counsel since 1972.

* John Fisher, 39, of Van Nuys. Fisher was appointed to the Los Angeles County Municipal Court in 1988.

* Michael Hoff, 48, of Agoura Hills. Hoff was appointed to the Los Angeles County Municipal Court in 1987.

* John Torribio, 49, of Costa Mesa. Torribio had been a Los Angeles County Superior Court commissioner since 1986.

* Daniel Pratt, 39, of La Mirada. Pratt was appointed to the East Los Angeles County Municipal Court in 1988.

Named to the $82,054-a-year positions on area municipal courts, four in the Los Angeles Judicial District and one in the Pomona Judicial District, were:

* Frederick N. Wapner, 39, a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney since 1975. He was appointed to replace Judge Stephen O’Neil, who was elevated to Superior Court. Wapner is the son of Judge Joseph Wapner of television’s “The People’s Court.”

* Edward A. Ferns, 39, of Malibu, who replaces Judge John S. Fisher, who was appointed to Los Angeles Superior Court. Ferns had been a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney since 1975.

* Soussan Bruguera, 33, of Redondo Beach, who replaces Judge Sidney A. Cherniss, who retired. Bruguera had served as a deputy attorney general for the state Department of Justice since 1984. Before that, she was a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney for about two years.

* Lloyd M. Nash, 36, of Canoga Park, who had been a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney since 1983. He replaces Judge Beauford Phelps, who was elevated to Los Angeles Superior Court.

* Reginald Yates, 49, of Claremont, for the Pomona Judicial District. Yates, a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney since 1974, replaces Judge Robert A. Dukes, who was elevated to Los Angeles Superior Court.