Judge Kevin G. DeNoce displays two plaques in his chambers, one honoring his years as a prosecutor, the other commending his defense efforts in freeing a wrongly convicted man.

VENTURA - Two plaques hang side-by-side on a wall in Judge Kevin G. DeNoce's chambers.

One holds the gold badge DeNoce received when he became a county prosecutor The other commends his successful defense efforts to free a man wrongly convicted of murder.

"They represent what I consider to be my balanced background in the criminal justice system," he said.

DeNoce, who is known for his keen legal mind and meticulous research, spent 20 years as a lawyer - first as a prosecutor and then as a private practitioner - before he took the bench two years ago.

As a deputy district attorney, he successfully litigated the test case that had a significant impact on driving-under-the-influence cases in the state It allows prosecutors to introduce at trial the breath-test results administered at the time of a motorist's suspected offense. People v. Bury, 41 Cal.App.4th 1194, 1198 (Cal. 1996).

He also played a key role in the prosecution of a funeral home operator charged with murder in the mysterious death of a business rival, in what became known as the "oleander poisoning case."

Years later, as a criminal defense attorney, he labored on the habeas petition for a young Oxnard man who had been sentenced to 44 years in prison for a Santa Barbara murder he did not commit. In the matter of Efren Cruz on habeas corpus, 1019120 (Santa Barbara Super. Ct. 2001).

"As a defense attorney, he was well respected by prosecutors," said William P. Haney III, a senior deputy district attorney. "If he told you something, you knew it was true and you could take him on his word - always."

DeNoce (the second syllable rhymes with dose) brings those values to the bench, according to lawyers who have appeared before him.

"He always tries to do the right thing," Deputy Public Defender Rebekah Mathis said.

A native of Teaneck, N.J., DeNoce grew up in Parsippany, about 35 miles west of New York City, and was captain of his wrestling team at Parsippany High School.

He learned a lot from the sport, he said. "It taught me dedication, commitment and responsibility."

When he graduated in 1978, he took a cross-country trip that led to the Rockies and, eventually, the University of Colorado, Boulder.

"I love the mountains and hiking," he said.

DeNoce - Catholic by birth and spiritual by nature - took classes in comparative religions and philosophy before deciding to major in political science.

A big nonfiction reader to this day, he particularly enjoys books that address social, economic and policy issues.

"I love to think about life, think about the issues," he said.

In 1984, DeNoce followed one of his four siblings to California and enrolled at Pepperdine University School of Law. The summer after his first year, he clerked for the U.S. attorney's office in Las Vegas, where he got his first taste of appellate cases. After he returned to Pepperdine, he continued to work for the Las Vegas office, submitting his briefs by mail.

"That got my foot in the door in criminal [law]," he said.
After law school, he joined the Ventura district attorney's office, where he specialized in DUI cases.

What stood out about DeNoce, former colleagues and others said, was his intellectual curiosity. He was still a young deputy DA when he stepped, midstream, into the high-profile "oleander murder" case, headed by veteran Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Harvey Giss. (Although the case was Los Angeles fact-based, Giss was deputized to prosecute it in Ventura County, where the victim died.)

The prosecution alleged that David Sconce, a Pasadena funeral home operator, had killed a business rival with the poisonous shrub. People v. Sconce, CR27086 (Ventura County Muni. Ct., filed Feb. 9, 1990).

"My job was to prove the victim was poisoned by oleander," DeNoce said.
"He was extremely bright, extremely resourceful, [someone with] integrity," said Giss, now a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge. "He didn't take shortcuts."

Something about the toxicology findings bothered DeNoce, a science wonk. He urged his office to send tissue samples to a leading toxicologist at Cornell University.

As it turned out, Santa Monica defense attorney Roger Jon Diamond, who represented Sconce, had similar concerns and also sought testing from the Cornell professor.

On the eve of trial, the lab results came back.

"No oleander," Diamond said.

Case dismissed.

"I respect him very much for the professionalism he exhibited in acknowledging the test rules and not disputing them," Diamond said of DeNoce. "He's to be credited for doing the right thing."

DeNoce later successfully argued before the state Supreme Court a case that broadens the type of restitution crime victims are entitled to receive for losses related to the crime. People v. Carbajal, 10 Cal.4th 1114 (Cal. 1995).

DeNoce was the head of the district attorney's appellate division when he decided to leave the office in 1996 to form a partnership with colleague Brenda C. Andrade. During that time, he teamed up with Westlake defense attorney Philip R. Dunn on Efren Cruz's habeas case. A Santa Barbara County Superior Court judge found that Cruz had been "incorrectly convicted" of the crimes.

"That case is the best example of who Kevin DeNoce is," Dunn said. "[He] is one of the few who's willing to take a case pro bono just because it serves the interests of justice."

DeNoce took the bench in August 2007 as a Superior Court commissioner.
"I enjoyed both being a prosecutor and a private practitioner," he said, "but I wanted to broaden my horizons."

Nine months later, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed him to fill a vacancy created by the retirement of another judge.

Since that time, DeNoce has presided over a number of serious criminal cases, including the trial of two gang members convicted of torture and mayhem in attacks on two homeless men they befriended. People v. Vasquez, 2007021403 (Ventura County Super. Ct., filed June 7, 2007).

"Both of the victims are scarred for life," said Joann Roth, a 10-year veteran of the district attorney's office.

Still, she called the complex, five-week trial "one of the most pleasant unpleasant trials I've had."

What stands out about DeNoce, the prosecutor said, is "his energy and his passion for being on the bench."

"I was so impressed ... [with] the amount of work he puts in on a trial to make sure his rulings are correct," she said.

"He has an amazing grasp of the law," said Oxnard attorney Joseph D. O'Neill Jr, who represented one of the defendants in the Vasquez case.

Lawyers describe DeNoce as a calm, even-tempered yet firm bench officer.
"He's not one to shoot from the hip," said John A. Cardoza, managing attorney of the Department of Child Support Services in Ventura County and a former colleague.

"There are a lot of raw wounds there," Cardoza said of courtrooms that handle child support cases, as DeNoce did when he was a commissioner. "Kevin was ... always able to maintain a civil and reasonable decorum, and I think that helped maintain a calm feeling and atmosphere in the courtroom."

Off the bench, Cardoza said, DeNoce has a quirky sense of humor, "like a New Yorker cartoon."

He sometimes works late into the night in chambers, surrounded by mementoes he has collected over the years, including a reproduction of a 15th Century wool tapestry that depicts "an enlightened era," he said, of men and women working together as astronomers. Close by are signed copies of two albums by the Eagles: "Hotel California" and "One of These Nights."

"I'm pretty much a contemporary rock 'n' roll guy," DeNoce said.

To relieve the tensions of the work day, he heads for the gym. The workouts help him keep a positive attitude, he said.

The balance in his life comes from his wife, Michelle DeNoce, owner of DeNoce Cafe and Catering, their 13-year-old son, Austin and the hiking vacations they take to Yellowstone, Yosemite, Glacier Bay and other national parks.

Career highlights: Appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to Ventura County Superior Court, May 16, 2008; elected commissioner by judges of Ventura County Superior Court, August 2007; owner, Law Offices of Kevin G. DeNoce, 2003-07; partner, Andrade & DeNoce, Ventura, 1996-2003; senior deputy and deputy district attorney, Ventura County, 1987-96 Law school: Pepperdine University School of Law, 1987 Age: 48

Two Ventura County court commissioners have been selected to be judges in the Superior Court by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor's office announced Friday.

New judges Kevin G. DeNoce and David R. Worley, who were prosecutors in the Ventura County District Attorney's Office beginning in the 1980s before they separately went into private practice, were praised Friday by local lawyers who said the two have well-rounded legal abilities.

The new judges will be a significant addition to the judicial system, said Supervising Judge Colleen Toy White.

"We have four vacancies right now, and we are just delighted that these two commissioners have been selected by the governor to sit with us on the bench," White said. "This will go a long way to where we need to be."

DeNoce, 47, is a Pepperdine law graduate and former senior deputy district attorney.

While in private practice, DeNoce heard about an Oxnard man, Efren Cruz, who had been convicted of second-degree murder in Santa Barbara despite evidence that authorities had the wrong man.

"Without compensation and at great expense to our small firm, he decided to take on this huge case to do the right thing," said his then-law partner, Brenda Andrade of Westlake Village.

DeNoce said Friday the Cruz conviction, which was tossed out in 2003, was the result of efforts by him, Oxnard police and Ventura prosecutors to right a wrongful conviction obtained by prosecutors in Santa Barbara.

He said it showed him that judges "in our system deal with a high volume of cases, and if we don't do a proper job then something other than justice can result."

Cruz served five years in prison for the wrongful murder conviction, and has since obtained a college degree and started a family, DeNoce said.

"I've never met a man who was such an honest, fair man," said Greg Irvine, a Ventura private investigator who once worked for DeNoce.

DeNoce said his legal experience, half spent as a prosecutor and half as a defense lawyer, gives him a balanced background for the bench. He is a Ventura resident, married and with one child.

Two lawyers have been selected to serve as Ventura County Superior Court commissioners, filling a pair of vacancies recently created when commissioners Douglas W. Daily and Bruce A. Young were appointed to judgeships.

Superior Court judges announced Thursday that they chose attorneys Kevin G. DeNoce and David R. Worley as the new commissioners.

"I am honored to have been appointed," DeNoce said Friday. "I am really looking forward to the transition to the bench."

DeNoce of Ventura said he expects to begin his commissioner duties on Sept. 17.

DeNoce, 47, is currently in private practice in Ventura, specializing in criminal cases. He was a prosecutor with the District Attorney's Office from 1987 to 1996. He was supervising attorney for the office's appellate division from 1992 to 1996.

DeNoce earned his bachelor of arts degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder and his law degree from the Pepperdine University School of Law. He is a past president of both the Ventura County Deputy District Attorney's Association and the Criminal Justice Attorney's Association of Ventura County.

DeNoce said that having been a prosecutor and a criminal defense lawyer gives him a "balanced perspective" in forming fair and impartial decisions on the bench.

He received the Outstanding Prosecutor of the Year Award in 1988 from the District Attorney's Office, and the Ventura County Criminal Defense Bar Association's 2002 Joyce Yoshioka Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the criminal justice system.