From restaurant critic to appellate justice, Guerra values people's stories

Before she reviewed appeals, Amy K. Guerra reviewed restaurants.

Writing for local publications as a hobby while she was a Fresno defense lawyer, she found her best pieces "always focused on the people behind the food," she told the Daily Journal in 2019. "It's really fascinating to hear how people got to where they are."

Now a justice of the 5th District Court of Appeal, Guerra is on the Nov. 3 ballot seeking retention for the four years remaining in her predecessor's term. She was a justice pro tem from October 2025 to January 2026 before her nomination and was confirmed in May.

"My pro tem service helped foster an even deeper respect for the court, its work, and the role of a justice," she wrote in a recent email.

Since her confirmation, she has written two published opinions.

She rejected the state's bid to move a flooding lawsuit out of Merced County in Department of Fish and Wildlife v. Superior Court (2026). Local plaintiffs blamed the department for flooding after a January 2023 storm, alleging it prevented them from maintaining waterways.

The state sought a transfer under a statute guarding against local bias. But Government Code Section 955.3 lets a local government suing the state try the case in its own county "notwithstanding any provision of law," Guerra wrote, and that language controls.

The attorney general could have sought a transfer before answering the complaint, she noted, but had not. "In sum, it is hard to envision a statute that would more clearly govern the present situation," she wrote.

In People v. Yanez (2026), Guerra upheld the convictions of a driver who killed two people while traveling over 100 mph with a 0.17 blood alcohol level. Her reasoning on whether two DUI-related offenses could support separate convictions was adopted six weeks later by another appellate court.

The driver argued that DUI causing injury is a lesser included offense of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, barring convictions for both. Guerra concluded the defense was wrong.

The manslaughter statute can also be violated under a separate provision for drivers under 21, she reasoned. A 16-year-old with a 0.06 blood alcohol level who is merely "affected by" alcohol could commit gross vehicular manslaughter without meeting the impairment or 0.08 standard for DUI causing injury.

In so holding, Guerra parted ways with People v. Binkerd (2007), which found DUI causing injury to be a lesser included offense of vehicular manslaughter. "We respectfully disagree," she wrote.

The 2nd District's Division 6 followed Guerra's reasoning in People v. Lossing (2026), disapproving its own earlier Binkerd decision. The defendant in Lossing asked the California Supreme Court for review.

The high court is also considering the issue in People v. Meno, which it agreed to review in 2024. In September, it ordered supplemental briefing on whether DUI causing injury is a necessarily included offense of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, which does not require gross negligence. The case was resubmitted Oct. 21.

Guerra graduated from San Joaquin College of Law. She defended homicide cases at Fresno County's Alternate Defense Office, becoming chief defense attorney in 2014.

Gov. Jerry Brown appointed her in 2018 to the Fresno County Superior Court, where she handled family law, felony domestic violence and trials, and supervised collaborative courts.

Family law pushed her "out of my comfort zone," she said in 2019. Difficult cases involved parental disagreements over medical treatment or special education. "The conflicts come from a very genuine place," she said.

She valued hearing directly from litigants. "You can read what people have written and what they've submitted, and sometimes, hearing from them, it becomes an issue of credibility," she said.

Guerra wrote in an email, "I am most proud of what our Collaborative Team accomplished in partnership with our community partners through Veterans Court and the Behavioral Health and Substance Abuse Courts. I particularly enjoyed the collaboration, problem-solving, and communication that these assignments required."