Van Nuys Municipal Court

A Minnesota convict charged with the rape and murder of a Cal State Northridge administrator nine years ago denied any involvement in the widely publicized slaying during a hearing Thursday in Van Nuys Municipal Court. Jonathan Karl Lundh, 43, was charged with robbing, raping and strangling Patty Lynne Cohen, assistant to the dean of the CSUN School of Arts, after she was abducted from the parking garage of a hotel in Burbank in 1982.

For criminal prosecutor Terry Siegel, the new Van Nuys Municipal Court is "the prettiest place I've ever worked." The building is so open and cheerful, said Siegel, that "it lightens even the often unpleasant business of prosecution." Designed by the local firm of Dworsky Associates, the $50-million, award-winning facility demonstrates how a functional building can be made graceful by the dignity of its architecture.

The woman who helped the FBI arrest Washington D.C. Mayor Marion Barry on a crack cocaine charge pleaded no contest today to a local charge of driving under the influence of alcohol and was sentenced to three years' probation. Hazel Diane Moore, 38, who also uses the name Rasheeda Moore, was not present in Van Nuys Municipal Court when her attorney entered the plea before Van Nuys Municipal Commissioner Mitchell Block.

Two Van Nuys Municipal Court judges, including one in whose courtroom a mentally deranged chiropractor fought a deadly gun battle with a bailiff, have been appointed by Gov. George Deukmejian to the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Michael B. Harwin, 42, of Hidden Hills, a former deputy Los Angeles County district attorney, was appointed a judicial commissioner in 1982 by Gov. Jerry Brown.

Kelsey Grammer, a star of the long-running television show "Cheers" who faces a cocaine possession charge, is scheduled to appear in Van Nuys Municipal Court on Thursday to request permission to attend a court-ordered drug-abuse education program. Grammer, 34, who plays Dr. Frasier Crane, the comically egotistical psychiatrist on the popular NBC series, has been charged with one felony count of possession of cocaine stemming from his arrest April 14 by Los Angeles police.

A Van Nuys baby-sitter pleaded not guilty Monday to the fatal beating of an 18-month-old girl who had been left in her care. Nova Marcia Thompson, 34, entered the plea during her arraignment on a charge of murder and two counts of child abuse in Van Nuys Municipal Court. Thompson is accused of fatally beating Jasmine Lynn Sanders of Van Nuys, who was found bruised and unconscious Thursday in Thompson's home in the 14300 block of Vanowen Street. The toddler was taken to Valley Presbyterian Hospital, where she died late Friday.

A Los Angeles woman Tuesday sued a private extradition company that transported her from West Virginia last year to face criminal charges in Van Nuys Municipal Court, claiming that a guard raped her during the trip. Barbara Pater, 29, sought $6 million in damages in the suit, filed in U.S. District Court. Pater was raped in a van Oct. 16, 1988, by an employee of Extradition Corp. of America, based in Manchester, Tenn., said her attorney, Carol A. Watson. Pater was being extradited to face misdemeanor charges filed in August of illegally obtaining information from California Department of Motor Vehicles computer records, Watson said.

The son of actor Ryan O'Neal pleaded no contest this morning in Van Nuys Municipal Court to charges of drunk driving and driving with a suspended license. Griffin Patrick O'Neal, 24, was arrested by Los Angeles police in October after failing a sobriety test. O'Neal was driving a 1957 Chrysler when police pulled him over for erratic driving near Roscoe Boulevard and Woodman Avenue. He faces up to one year in jail for the offense, a spokesman for City Atty. James Hahn said. Municipal Court Commissioner Ralph Amado scheduled sentencing for July 7. In 1987, Griffin O'Neal was sentenced to 416 hours of community service for his part in the Memorial Day, 1986, boating death in Maryland of the son of film director Francis Ford Coppola.

A preliminary hearing against sports agent Lloyd Bloom, charged with three felony counts involving bad checks, has been continued until May 11. The Van Nuys Municipal Court case involves 12 checks totaling $17,000. Bloom and fellow agent Norby Walters were convicted in a federal court in Chicago last week of racketeering, conspiracy and mail fraud, charges stemming from their dealings with college athletes.