Riverside County Judges Select New Presiding, Assistant Presiding Judges

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (CN) — Riverside County Exceptional Court Judge John Monterosso will serve as the Southern California court’s upcoming presiding decide setting up in 2021, and Choose Judith Clark will be the upcoming assistant presiding decide.

Equally judges ended up appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and earlier worked in the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office environment at some point in their professions.

Like all the other courtroom techniques across the country, Riverside County closed its doorways to the community this earlier March through the Covid-19 pandemic. Just right before resuming jury trials this previous June, the courtroom executed restricted entry to the courts, audio livestreams and social distancing with enforcement that masks be worn at all occasions though in the courthouses.

Monterosso is the court’s assistant presiding choose and has been on the bench because 2007, currently in the legal division. A graduate of the College of San Francisco University of Law, Monterosso clerked for the late California Supreme Courtroom Associate Justice Allen Broussard. Monterosso was awarded the Southwest Felony Prosecutor of the 12 months award in 1998 and 2004 even though performing with the Riverside DA’s workplace. He expended 17 a long time as a prosecutor and ended his time in the DA’s workplace as assistant deputy DA.

His prior assignments in the Riverside courtroom consist of felony trials, household regulation and juvenile dependency along with the mental wellness court and drug courtroom system. Monterosso has also served as the lead choose with the Southwest Justice Center and the county’s court protection committee.

Clark, who will start out her phrase as the assistant presiding judge on Jan. 1, is a graduate from the College of San Diego University of Legislation and holds a bachelor’s diploma in legal justice with a insignificant in addictions from the Metropolitan State Faculty in Denver.

Clark is currently the presiding decide of the county’s juvenile courtroom. Just before getting into the legal industry, she labored as a counselor at two household treatment centers for minors. She labored with the DA’s office environment for 16 yrs, ending her time there as a supervisor of the coaching and writs and appeals division.

“When I first entered the legal profession as an lawyer, I had no strategy what spots of the legislation would turn into a enthusiasm for me,” Clark mentioned in an e mail job interview. “Just by happenstance, though serving in the District Attorney’s Place of work I was by no means assigned to the juvenile division.”

She presides above the dependency calendar in the juvenile court’s southwest division and was previously assigned to felony trials and loved ones regulation.

“I have discovered these earlier 5 decades serving as a juvenile court judge to be especially enjoyable and I am unhappy to step absent from this assignment. The strategy to juvenile treatment and recidivism (like so numerous parts of the regulation) has witnessed a extraordinary change in current decades,” mentioned Clark. 

She said her goals are to assist the court “facilitate accessibility to justice” for anyone and “ensure timely judicial hearings, when making sure the basic safety of our court staff, our judicial companions and our court users.”

“Given the size of time that I have served on the bench and the wide range of assignments I have held as a judicial officer, I felt I could provide a wide point of view and depth of knowledge to the position,” Clark explained.

Each judges will serve two-yr terms, possessing been chosen by their fellow jurists in an uncontested election.