Page 1
Newsom Appoints Five to L.A. Superior Court
By a MetNews Staff Writer
|
|
|
|
Gov. Gavin Newsom yesterday announced the appointment of five persons to the Los Angeles Superior Court.
The governor chose Leslie B. Gutierrez, a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney, to replace Judge Brian C. Yep, who retired. The appointment allows Gutierrez, a graduate of Southwestern Law School, to immediately assume the position she was otherwise elected to begin in January.
Heather M. Hocter, a Los Angeles County alternate deputy public defender since 2017 and a deputy public defender for the county from 2006-17, will take the seat previously occupied by retired Judge Amy Pellman. Hocter earned a law degree from Southwestern.
Succeeding Judge Richard J. Burdge, who retired and is now deceased, is Karen C. Joynt, a graduate of Southwestern Law School. Joynt has served as a commissioner with the court since 2022 and was previously employed by the Office of the Los Angeles County Counsel, the Office of the Los Angeles County Alternate Public Defender, and the Office of the Los Angeles County Public Defender. Senior appellate attorney Esther K. Ro with this district’s Court of Appeal will fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Paul A. Bacigalupo. Before her time with the Court of Appeal, Ro was a partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP; she earned her law degree from the UCLA School of Law.
Karla Sarabia, a graduate of the University of San Francisco School of Law, has been selected to replace Judge Steven D. Blades, who retired. Sarabia has served as a deputy with the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office since 2008 and as an attorney with the Fresno County Public Defender’s Office from 2006 to 2008.
All of the Los Angeles Superior Court appointees are Democrats.
Newsom made 13 other appointments to superior courts across the state. He selected judges for the counties of Contra Costa, Colusa, Orange, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Sutter. Nine out of the 13 are registered Democrats and the remaining four are unaffiliated.
Copyright 2024, Metropolitan News Company