Riverside Commissioner Arthur Hester will be a judge, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced March 26.
Hester has served as a court commissioner since 2021. Commissioners are judicial officers appointed by judges. They conduct many of the same functions as judges, including overseeing court hearings and managing cases.
He was most recently assigned to manage the misdemeanor calendar at Indio’s Larson Justice Center, but was in charge of small claims, evictions and civil cases in the Palm Springs Courthouse in 2021.
Hester spent 17 years as a prosecutor in the Riverside District Attorney’s Office, from 2004 to 2021.
District Attorney Mike Hestrin awarded Hester with the Program Rewarding Incentive of District attorney Employees (PRIDE) Award for the Eastern Region’s felony prosecution unit.
Hester is married to Riverside Superior Judge Kristi Hester, who was appointed to her judgeship in 2020.
Before that, he spent a year at the Law Office of Sorem, Pastore and Casiano. He joined the bar in 2003, after graduating from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University.
