Governor announces picks for courts of appeal, trial courts

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday nominated Alameda County Superior Court Judge Tara Desautels to be an associate justice on the 1st District Court of Appeal, Division 2 and Justice Gonzalo Martinez to be presiding justice of the 2nd District Court of Appeal, Division 7.

Desautels has served on the Alameda County Superior Court since 2010. She was a senior associate at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP from 2005 to 2010. She served as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County from 1997 to 2005. If confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments, she would fill the vacancy created by the elevation of Justice Therese Stewart to presiding justice of the court.

Martinez has served as an associate justice since 2023. He had been deputy judicial appointments secretary for Newsom since 2019. He served as a deputy state solicitor general from 2017 to 2019 and was a partner in the Appellate and Supreme Court Practice Group at Squire Patton Boggs from 2007 to 2017 and in 2019. Martinez was a law clerk at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in 2010 and at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District in 2007. He was an associate at Coblentz Patch Duffy and Bass LLP from 2005 to 2007 and at Morrison & Foerster LLP from 2003 to 2005. If confirmed by the commission, he would fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Presiding Justice Dennis M. Perluss.

The Commission on Judicial Appointments is comprised of Chief Justice of California Patricia Guerrero, Attorney General Rob Bonta and the most senior justice on the court of appeal for which the nominee is being considered. 1st District Senior Presiding Justice Jim Humes will round out the panel considering Desautels’ appointment. 2nd District Senior Presiding Justice Arthur Gilbert will complete the panel considering Martinez’s elevation.

Newsom also appointed 14 superior court judges, two in Contra Costa County; two in Los Angeles County; one in Placer County; one in Riverside County; one in Sacramento County; one in San Diego County; one in San Joaquin County; one in San Mateo County; three in Santa Clara County; and one in Solano County. Appointments to superior courts do not require confirmation.

Here is a complete list of Superior Court judges named on Tuesday:

• Nichelle Holmes, of Solano County, was appointed to the Contra Costa County Superior Court. Holmes has been a deputy district attorney in Contra Costa County since 2012. She was an attorney at the Law Offices of Rosario Bacon Billingsley in 2011 and a post bar fellow at the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office from 2010 to 2011. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Leslie Landau.

• Jesse Jen-Yen Hsieh, of Alameda County, was appointed to the Contra Costa County Superior Court. Hsieh has been a deputy public defender in San Francisco since 2021. He was a deputy public defender in Contra Costa County from 2012 to 2021. Hsieh was a staff attorney at the East Bay Community Law Center from 2009 to 2012 and at A New Way of Life Reentry Project in 2009. He fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Laurel Brady.

• Grace A. Kim was appointed to the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Kim has served as a court commissioner in Los Angeles County since 2022. She clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Dolly M. Gee from 2020 to 2022. She was an attorney at the U.S. Department of Labor from 2009 to 2020. She clerked for Judge Arthur L. Alarcón at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals from 2008 to 2009, for Judge Gary Allen Feess at the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles from 2007 to 2008 and for Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl at the Los Angeles County Superior Court from 2006 to 2007. Kim fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Allen Webster.

• Ashley M. Price was appointed to the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Price has served as a court commissioner in Los Angeles County since 2021. She was a deputy public defender in Los Angeles County from 2005 to 2019 and a senior law clerk there in 2005. Price was also a law clerk at the Federal Public Defender’s Office for the Central District of California in 2005. Price fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Rafael A. Ongkeko.

• Glenn MacNeur Holley, of Sacramento County, was appointed to the Placer County Superior Court. Holley has served as a court commissioner in Placer County since 2019. He was a partner at Schuering Zimmerman & Doyle LLP from 2006 to 2019 and an attorney at Tweedy & Holley from 2003 to 2006 and a partner at Bolling Walter and Gawthrop PC from 1989 to 2003. He was an attorney at Jacoby and Meyers LLC from 1987 to 1989, at Jensen and Roggeveen from 1986 to 1987 and at the Law Office of Joan Poulos in 1986. He fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Eugene S. Gini Jr.

• Sophia Choi was appointed to the Riverside County Superior Court. Choi has served as a deputy district attorney in Riverside County since 2020. She served as a deputy Riverside County counsel from 2007 to 2020. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge John G. Evans.

• Renuka George was appointed to the Sacramento County Superior Court. George has been a lawyer in the California Attorney General’s Office since 2013. She was an associate at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati from 2008 to 2011. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge John P. Winn.

Rebecca F. Zipp was appointed to the San Diego County Superior Court. Zipp has been of counsel at Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek since 2023. She served as a chief deputy city attorney in San Diego from 2019 to 2023 and as a deputy district attorney in San Diego County from 2008 to 2019. She fills the vacancy created by the elevation of Justice Jose Castillo to the Court of Appeal.

• Chrishna M. Martinez was appointed to the San Joaquin County Superior Court. Martinez has served as a deputy public defender in San Joaquin County since 1999. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Bernard J. Garber.

Rosendo Padilla Jr. was appointed to the San Mateo County Superior Court. Padilla has served as a court commissioner there since 2022. He served as a deputy San Mateo County attorney between 2018 and 2022. Before that, he was a hearing officer and staff attorney at the San Mateo County Superior Court from 2017 to 2018 and was an associate at the Cohen Law Office P.C. from 2013 to 2017. He fills the vacancy created by the elevation of Justice Danny Chou to the Court of Appeal.

• Vincent I. Parrett was appointed to the Santa Clara County Superior Court. Parrett has been a partner at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP since 2021. He was a partner at Bergeson LLP from 2014 to 2021 and a member at Motley Rice LLC from 2007 to 2014. Parrett was an associate at Kreindler & Kreindler LLP from 2003 to 2007. He served in several roles in the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps from 1999 to 2003. Parrett fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Patricia M. Lucas.

• Matthew W. Pritchard, of Alameda County, was appointed to the Santa Clara County Superior Court. Pritchard has worked in the San Jose City Attorney’s Office since 2016. Pritchard served as a trial attorney with Federal Defenders of San Diego from 2012 to 2016 and clerked for Judge Procter Hug Jr. at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals from 2011 to 2012. Pritchard fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Deborah A. Ryan.

• Elizabeth Manassau Sanada was appointed to the Santa Clara County Superior Court. Sanada has served as an administrative law judge for the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board since 2020. She was an attorney-advisor at the U.S. Social Security Administration from 2017 to 2020. She was a sole Practitioner from 2004 to 2017. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Shelyna V. Brown.

• Marlo S. Nisperos was appointed to the Solano County Superior Court. Nisperos has served as an administrative law judge at the Office of Administrative Hearings since 2019. She was a sole practitioner from 2016 to 2019 and a partner at the Law Offices of Nisperos and Small from 2015 to 2016. Nisperos was a deputy district attorney in Solano County from 2006 to 2015. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Earl B. Nelson.