Fresno County voters will have the rare opportunity to vote on several open judicial seats in the June primary.
With last Wednesday’s filing deadline in the rear-view mirror, seven current Fresno County judges did not file to run for reelection.
On the way out: Judges Gregory Fain, Jonathan Conklin, Tyler Tharpe, David Gottlieb, Elizabeth Egan, John Vogt and Kimberly Nystrom-Geist are all retiring from the Fresno County Superior Court.
- They did not pay the filing fee or submit signatures in lieu of the fee to Fresno County, meaning they are not running.
Who’s running: Six of the seats with retiring judges have multiple candidates, who had an extended deadline of Monday to file.
- Rosalina Nunez and Marc Kapetan are running for Fain’s seat. Nunez runs her own law firm. Kapetan is a Fresno defense and accident attorney and runs the Kapetan Brothers law firm with his brother Peter Kapetan. He is also the brother of retired Fresno County judge Jon Kapetan. Katherine Fogarty pulled papers to run but has yet to pay filing fees. Fogarty is a commissioner in the Fresno County Superior Court.
- Three candidates have lined up for Conklin’s seat: Ashley Paulson, Deidre Adams and Ueltzen. Paulson is a Chief Assistant City Attorney for the Fresno City Attorney’s Office and previously worked for the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office. Adams works for the Fresno County Public Defender’s Office. Ueltzen, who joined the race on Monday, works for the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office as the lead prosecutor in the DUI unit.
- The two candidates who have filed for Egan’s seat are Noelle Pebet and Eddie Ruiz. Pebet is a commissioner with the Fresno County Superior Court, and Ruiz is defense and injury lawyer who also serves on the Washington Union School District Board of Trustees.
- Tharpe has three potential candidates looking to succeed him: Jeffrey Hammerschmidt, Jose Salazar and Curtis Bonghoon Sok. Hammerschmidt is a criminal defense attorney and a former prosecutor. Salazar works for the Fresno County Public Defender’s Office. Sok is a criminal law and immigration defense attorney. Sok filed papers for the position, but he did not pay the filing fee yet, according to Fresno County’s candidate list.
- Two candidates have filed to run for Vogt’s seat. Miles Harris and Jennifer Smith have both filed to run. Harris is a defense and family law attorney, and Smith is a prosecutor in the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office.
- The final seat with multiple candidates currently belongs to Nystrom-Geist. Fresno County Superior Court Commissioner Jennifer Hamilton is running, and Jamie Xiong-Vang, who filed on Monday, is an administrative law judge for the California Department of Social Services.
- Daniel Brickey is the only candidate who has filed to run for Gottlieb’s seat. Brickey is a Fresno County Superior Court Commissioner.
Running unopposed: There are also 11 incumbent judges who are running unopposed: Monica Diaz, Houry Sanderson, Melissa Baloian, Gabriel Brickey, Amy Guerra, Lisa Gamoian, Jeffrey Hamilton, James Kelley, Raj Badhesha, Mary Vasquez and Maria Diaz.
