In May, the Offices of the Public Defender held the county’s first record-clearing event in Landers, a small Mojave Desert community, using a new RV mobile defense unit with remote access to San Bernardino Superior Court. At the four-hour event, more than 80 individual cases were heard virtually and about 20 to 30 individuals had their records cleared, according to Public Defender Thomas Sone, who helped develop the program.

Judge Andi Mudryk was appointed to the Superior Court of Sacramento County by Governor Gavin Newsom in March 2022. She is the first openly transgender person to be appointed to the bench in the United States. 

(Subscription required) In its first opportunity to clarify a pivotal 2022 Second Amendment ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday issued a narrow decision that reversed a lower court decision that struck down a 1994 federal law banning possession of firearms by perpetrators of domestic violence but left other questions about gun laws for another day.

(Subscription required) Plaintiffs' attorneys have filed a flood of Private Attorney General Act notices after the announcement of a deal to overhaul the two-decade old labor law. But if the goal was to avoid trying these cases under the new rules, it didn't work. According to the office of Sen. Tom Umberg, D-Santa Ana, the new rules will apply to any case filed on or after June 19.