A pair of San Diego County deputy district attorneys have clinched their election victories and will join two San Diego Superior Court commissioners as the newest judges on the county bench.
In the race for San Diego Superior Court judge Office No. 41, Brian Erickson defeated Jodi Cleesattle, an assistant state attorney general. For Office No. 43, Valerie Summers defeated Koryn Sheppard, a family law litigator.
Judicial primary candidates need just 50 percent of the vote to win their elections and avoid a November runoff. Since both races featured just two candidates, the winners of the primary races were elected to the bench.
Court Commissioners Rosy Meyerowitz and Kelly Mertsoc will also join Erickson and Summers, having run unopposed for Office No. 19 and Office No. 38.
Summers has spent her entire career as a San Diego County deputy district attorney, including stints as chief of the sex crimes and human trafficking division and the family protection division. She also teaches criminal justice courses at UC San Diego. She defeated Sheppard by a nearly 2-to -1 margin.
“I am grateful for all the support from San Diego law enforcement, the (District Attorney) Summer Stephan, my fellow deputy district attorneys, the San Diego bench and the community,” Summers told the Union-Tribune on Monday.
Sheppard sent Summers a congratulatory message a day after election-night results showed Summers with a commanding lead.
Erickson, 56, has worked for the District Attorney’s Office for the past two decades, currently in the cold case homicide unit. He previously held the same position in Tuolumne County and worked six years in the San Diego City Attorney’s Office.
“I would like to thank everyone that supported and voted for me,” Erickson told the Union-Tribune on Monday. “I look forward to the opportunity to continue to serve the great people of this county.”
As of Monday, he led Cleesattle by more than 40,000 votes, while the county reported about 30,000 were left to be counted.
