Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed two court commissioners, a prosecutor and an estate attorney to judgeships in the Inland Empire Jan. 31.
Court Commissioner Laura Garcia joins Riverside Superior Court. Garcia had run for a judgeship in the 2022 election, which prosecutor Jay Kiel won. Garcia has been handling cases as a court commissioner since 2021.
During a candidate forum hosted by Follow Our Courts, Garcia said that there is inequity in Riverside County when it comes to civil issues as well criminal cases. She would be the first Latina from Coachella Valley to sit on the bench, she said. As a court commissioner, she handled hundreds cases of a day, mostly misdemeanors. She was a public defender from 2008 to 2021, and a paralegal from 2006 to 2008. She graduated from the Southern California Institute of Law.
“I think it’s very critical that our bench represents the community that we serve. We’re at a critical time where I think it’s important that the judiciary keeps building on and fostering the confidence and the trust that our community has in our judicial officers,” she said.
Riverside prosecutor Jason Armand also joins the Riverside bench, filling a position created July 1, 2022. He has worked at the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office since 2007, and joined the State Bar in 2006. He earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego Law School.
In San Bernardino Superior Court, court commissioner Geraldine Wong-Williams was appointed to the bench. She has also been a commissioner since Aug. 16, 2021, and worked as an Orange County prosecutor from 2017 to 2021. Before she was a prosecutor, she was a public defender, starting in 2006. She graduated from the Southwestern University School of Law.
Price Law Firm associate attorney John Wilkerson was also appointed to San Bernardino Superior Court. Before Price, Wilkerson worked at Haight Brown & Bonesteel from 2001 to 2022. He made partner at Haight Brown & Bonesteel in 2007. He earned his juris doctor degree from the Gonzaga University School of Law, and joined the State Bar in 1999. Super Lawyers named him a rising star attorney from 2007 to 2010.
John Wilkerson, 52, of San Bernardino County, has been appointed to serve as a judge in the San Bernardino Superior Court. Wilkerson has been an Associate at Price Law Firm, APC since 2022. He was a Partner at Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP from 2007 to 2022 and an Associate there from 2001 to 2006. Wilkerson was an associate at the Law Offices of Ponsor & Associates from 1999 to 2001. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the Gonzaga University School of Law. He fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Arthur A. Harrison.
