Sonoma — Sonoma County Superior Court Selects New Pretrial Court Commisioners

Source: https://sonoma.courts.ca.gov/sites/all/assets/pdfs/general-info/Press%20Release%20Pre%20Trial%20Commissioners%20Revised.pdf

Superior Court of California County of Sonoma

Bradford J. DeMeo Arlene D. Junior
Presiding Judge ACCESS, SERVICE, JUSTICE Court Executive Officer

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SONOMA COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT SELECTS NEW PRETRIAL COURT COMMISSIONERS

Santa Rosa, CA – January 10, 2020 – The judges of the Sonoma County Superior Court have announced the selection of Kenneth English and Paul Lozada as the two Pretrial Commissioners. This selection follows an extensive recruitment process by the Court. They have been chosen from a field of highly qualified candidates.

In 2011, Mr. English joined the Sonoma County Superior Court as a Supervising Research Attorney. In 2018, he was appointed to Managing Attorney. Mr. English oversees the Court’s Temporary Judge Program, where also serves as a Temporary Judge hearing small claims matters. Mr. English has been appointed to several Judicial Council educational committees, including Civil Law Curriculum Committee, 2019 Limited Civil PAO Workgroup, and Trial Court Judicial Attorney Institute Workgroup.

Mr. English graduated from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with a degree in history. He earned his law degree from George Washington University Law School. At law school, he was a Thurgood Marshall Scholar and the Senior Articles Editor for the Government Contracts Law Journal. Mr. English was also a research assistant to Prof. Andrew Spanogle. After law school, Mr. English clerked for the Hon. Alan B. Johnson, judge for the Federal District Court for the District of Wyoming. During his clerkship, Mr. English worked on a wide variety of cases, including a challenge to keeping the wolves of Yellowstone Park on the endangered species list. After his clerkship, Mr. English began private practice in Napa where his practice included civil litigation, wine law, and criminal defense.

He is also a graduate of the California Culinary Academy, and a University of California Certified California Naturalist. Mr. English resides in Penngrove with his wife, and two children.

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Mr. Lozada is a thirty-four year veteran of the criminal justice system. Retiring from law enforcement in 2006, Mr. Lozada started his second career in 2007 as an attorney in private practice specializing in criminal defense, adding family law to his practice in 2017.

After completing his enlistment as an infantryman in the United States Marine Corps in 1984, he commenced a 20-year career in Law Enforcement as a Deputy Sheriff, Detective and Criminal Investigator in Santa Clara, Sonoma and Contra Costa Counties. In 2000, Mr. Lozada was hired as a consultant to the United Nations as a civilian police officer in the United Nations Mission in Kosovo. The goal of the mission was to teach democratic policing to the newly formed interim police force in Kosovo after the previous Serbian Government had been forced out of power in the region. During his one year mission in Kosovo, he led the Crime Scene Investigations/Forensic Unit and also served as the Deputy Director of Investigations for the entire mission.

In 2002, Mr. Lozada graduated from St. Mary’s College with a Bachelor’s degree in management (With Honors) and later attended and graduated in 2007 (Cum Laude) from Empire College of Law, in Santa Rosa, California. He took and passed the California Bar Exam on the first attempt and received his license to practice law in 2007.

In 2010, Empire College invited Mr. Lozada back to the school, this time as a member of the faculty. Mr. Lozada resides in Santa Rosa with his wife.

“On behalf of the Sonoma County Superior Court bench, I am pleased to welcome Mr. English and Mr. Lozada. Our Court is excited in anticipation of our upcoming kick off of the Pretrial Pilot Program and their participation in it. Both are enthusiastic about pre-trial release issues and bring experience and expertise in the law which I know will benefit the Sonoma County community at large,” said Presiding Judge Bradford DeMeo.

Court Commissioners perform various judicial functions and duties. They are appointed to perform judicial functions to assist the court in performing its constitutional and statutory duties for the administration of justice, with primary responsibility for Pretrial Release as well as presiding over a daily court calendar as assigned, including acting as a temporary judge in cases.

For additional information, visit Sonoma County Superior Court website at http://sonoma.courts.ca.gov/. ###