H Walter Croskey

STATE SUPREME COURT CHIEF JUSTICE 100% Precincts Reporting: votes (%) Malcolm M. Lucas Confirm: 3,273,477 (69%) Reject: 1,460,481 (31%) ASSOCIATE JUSTICES 100% Precincts Reporting: votes (%) Armand Arabian Confirm: 2,502,709 (56%) Reject: 1,997,689 (44%) Marvin Baxter Confirm: 2,951,333 (66%) Reject: 1,528,395 (34%) Joyce L. Kennard Confirm: 3,128,422 (68%) Reject: 1,454,938 (32%) Edward A.

A lawyer who once represented Phil Spector was spared a jail sentence late Friday after a state appeals panel intervened in her contempt-of-court case. Sara Caplan had been cited for contempt Monday by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Larry Fidler, who is presiding over the televised trial of Spector in connection with the killing of actress Lana Clarkson four years ago. At stake is evidence that allegedly helps show that Clarkson could not have shot herself, as the defense contends.

The often-delayed efforts to clean up Fullerton's McColl dump hit another major snag Friday when a judge ruled against the state's plans to remove the hazardous wastes to a Kern County disposal site. After six days of hearings in Bakersfield, visiting Los Angeles Superior Court Judge H. Walter Croskey ordered the estimated $26.5-million project halted until an environmental impact report is prepared, an action that could delay the work anywhere from six to 18 months.

Justices of the California Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals are subject to periodic confirmation by a simple majority of voters. They appear unopposed on the ballot; voters are asked only whether the judge should be retained for another term of up to 12 years. We urge a yes vote on the four Supreme Court justices on the Nov. 3 ballot and the 15 Court of Appeals justices who sit in Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties.

In their appeal on behalf of Supervisor Mike Antonovich, lawyers representing Los Angeles County told the state Court of Appeal on Wednesday that a civil award against Antonovich should be reversed because there is no evidence that he attempted to influence a judge in favor of a political backer. A Superior Court jury levied a $1.

Robert Blake, the actor acquitted of his wife's murder, should not have to pay her survivors a $30-million civil court award because he did not get a fair trial, his lawyers told appellate judges Tuesday. "All we asked for was a fair trial, and it wasn't," M. Gerald Schwartzbach argued to the state 2nd District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles. "Celebrities have the same rights as anybody else. . . . Mr. Blake was denied that." Attorney Eric J.

Parents may legally home-school their children in California even if they lack a teaching credential, a state appellate court ruled Friday. The decision is a reversal of the court's earlier position, which effectively prohibited most home schooling and sparked fear throughout the state's estimated 166,000 home-schoolers. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had vowed to allow home schooling through legislation if the court did not act, praised the ruling.

The California Supreme Court, entering a dispute with broad political impact, agreed Thursday to decide whether strict limits on legislative campaign fund-raising and a sweeping ban on off-year contributions to legislative candidates may be implemented under Proposition 68. The justices set aside an August ruling by a state Court of Appeal that upheld the measure's restrictions.

Although work has been stalled indefinitely by court order in Kern County, Assemblyman Ross Johnson (R-La Habra) says it would be a "crucial" mistake to cancel contracts for extracting World War II refinery sludge from the McColl dump site in Fullerton. In a two-page letter he sent to Gov. George Deukmejian on Monday, Johnson said officials of the state Department of Health Services have informed him that they intend to cancel contracts for the $26.

In an ambitious bid to untangle the backlog of civil cases clogging the downtown Los Angeles County Courthouse, officials have announced a new program aimed at cutting the time it takes before a lawsuit comes to trial from as long as five years to as little as one. Officials will launch the three-year experimental program next January to comply with a 1986 law passed by the Legislature. Based on standards drafted by the American Bar Assn.