SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Aug. 7 announced nominations for eight Court of Appeal positions and appointments of nine Superior Court judges who will serve in courts throughout California.
The eight appellate nominees include judges and attorneys from across California who have backgrounds in state and federal courts, prosecutors’ offices, government agencies and private law firms. The nominations include positions on the Second, Third, Fourth and Sixth District Courts of Appeal.
The governor also announced Superior Court appointments in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Sonoma and San Francisco counties.
Among these appointments is Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Lauri Damrell, who was nominated as an associate justice on the Third District Court of Appeal. Damrell has served as a Sacramento County Superior Court judge since 2018 and has worked as a lecturer at the University of California, Davis, since 2019.
Damrell received her Juris Doctor from the UC Davis School of Law.
If confirmed, Damrell would fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Elena J. Duarte. Her appointment would begin Jan. 4, 2027, and would be subject to voter confirmation during the upcoming Nov. 3 election.
Another nominee who would work alongside Damrell as an associate justice on the Third District Court of Appeal is David Sapp of Napa County.
He previously served as Newsom’s chief deputy legal affairs secretary. Before working for the governor’s office, he worked for the California State Board of Education and the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California.
He has also served as a law clerk on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and received his Juris Doctor from Stanford Law School.
The other appellate nominees include Rashida Adams for presiding justice of the Second District Court of Appeal, Division Three; Denise Hippach, nominated to the Second District Court of Appeal, Division Six; Marsha Amin and Lisa Rodriguez, nominated to the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division One; Juliet Macaulay, nominated to the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division Three; and Frederick Chung, nominated to the Sixth District Court of Appeal.
If these nominees are confirmed, they would fill vacancies created by retirements, deaths or the elevation of other justices. The nominees will “require confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments,” which includes the chief justice, attorney general and a senior presiding justice.
All nominees, if confirmed, will be subject to voter confirmation in the upcoming November 2026 general election.
In addition to these appellate nominations, Newsom appointed nine judges to Superior Courts throughout California. Four of the appointments are to the Los Angeles County Superior Court, two to the San Diego County Superior Court and one to the Riverside County Superior Court.
Newsom has also made interim appointments to the Sonoma County and San Francisco County Superior Courts. The Los Angeles appointments include Justin Ford, Erin Murphy, Wilson Park and Maricela Segura.
Ford has served as a deputy district attorney in the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office since 2014, while Murphy has worked as a trial attorney and supervising trial attorney in the Office of the Federal Public Defender. Park has served as an assistant U.S. attorney since 2012, and Segura has held positions at the Federal Trade Commission, including regional director of its Los Angeles office.
Timothy Mulhere was appointed to the Riverside County Superior Court after serving as a deputy district attorney in Riverside County.
Crystal Salumbides and Brigid Campo were appointed to the San Diego County Superior Court. Salumbides previously served as a deputy public defender, while Campo has served as a commissioner in the San Diego County Superior Court.
David Kim was appointed on an interim basis to the Sonoma County Superior Court after serving as a commissioner and deputy district attorney in the county.
Phoebe Maffei was similarly appointed on an interim basis to the San Francisco County Superior Court after serving as an assistant district attorney in San Francisco since 2010.
The compensation for the Court of Appeal positions is about $280,052, while the Superior Court positions carry compensation of $244,727, according to the governor’s announcement.
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