Riverside Superior Judge Jacqueline Jackson began her two-year term as presiding judge on Jan. 1. Judge Dean Benjamini is assistant presiding judge.
Presiding judges are elected by a court’s judges. They are responsible for leading the court’s judges, establishing policies and allocating resources in a fair manner. They assign judges to their departments, act as the court’s spokesperson, authorize and direct expenditures, and assign cases to departments.
Jackson is the the court’s first African-American woman to serve as presiding judge, the court announced.
Jackson joined the bar in 1996. She prosecuted in Los Angeles, handling child abuse and sexual assault cases. She joined the Riverside District Attorney’s Office in 2006, in the Writs and Appeals Division, before supervising the misdemeanor calendar and drug courts.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Jackson to the bench in 2011.
She has served four years as the juvenile presiding judge, and has sat on the court’s Appellate Panel, and has been the Riverside Chair of the Inland Counties Judicial Mentorship program, which recruits and advises judicial applicants.
Benjamini joined the bar in 1993. He was a Riverside public defender before being appointed to a judgeship by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2014. As a judge, he has been assigned to criminal courtrooms, handling calendars, collaborative courts and criminal cases, including death penalty cases. He is currently assigned to the felony vertical calendar department.
Riverside Superior Judge Judith Clark previously served as presiding judge.
