Judges and Judiciary
Jul. 27, 2002
Quidachay Announces S.F. Judicial Assignments
SAN FRANCISCO - Longtime prosecutor Susan Breall will return to San Francisco's Hall of Justice as a judge under new judicial assignments announced this week.
There she will join Charles F. Haines, another former prosecutor who was recently returned to the Hall.
Between them, Breall and Haines have served 37 years in the San Francisco district attorney's office. Breall was best known for her work prosecuting domestic violence crimes. Haines has prosecuted nearly every crime in the book, and he supervised the office's hate crimes unit for four years.
Breall and Haines will preside over preliminary hearings in neighboring courtrooms, Departments 19 and 20.
Presiding Judge Ronald Quidachay announced the moves Wednesday as part of the court's annual reassignments. The judges will assume their new assignments Aug. 5, he said.
Among other changes, Judge Kay Tsenin will preside over the felony master calendar in Department 22. She will fill the space vacated by Kevin Ryan, who stepped down as he prepares to become U.S. attorney for Northern California.
Judge Patrick Mahoney, a former deputy city attorney appointed to the bench in 2000, will move from hearing misdemeanors and preliminary hearings to a criminal trial court. Newton Lam, a former commissioner and the court's newest judge, will move from one preliminary hearing department (Department 19) to another (Department. 11).
The court now has four vacant positions. A fifth courtroom will become vacant in November when Judge Alfred Chiantelli retires to pursue private judging.
One of those spots will be filled by Nancy Davis, who was elected to the bench in March. Another position will be filled in November when voters elect either criminal defense attorney Gail Dekreon or Deputy City Attorney Sean Connolly.
Tyler Cunningham
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