June 24, 2019 - Superior Court Judge Michael Fagalde has announced his plan to seek reelection at the primary to be held in March of 2020.  Judge Fagalde was originally elected in 2014.  Superior Court judges sit for six-year terms.

With over 36 years of combined experience as a judge and as an attorney, Judge Fagalde believes his experience in handling thousands of cases, including hundreds of trials by jury or by the court, make him uniquely qualified for this important position.  He is supported in his bid for reelection by Mariposa County Sheriff Doug Binnewies and Superior Court Judge F. Dana Walton.

Judge Fagalde is currently the Presiding Judge of the Mariposa County Superior Court.  He also hears most criminal cases, juvenile dependency cases, juvenile traffic court and a variety of civil matters.  He helped create the court’s Behavior Health Court in 2017 and has presided over it since then.  That court is designed to focus on individuals with a diagnosis of serious mental illness, and who have been convicted of a crime and placed on probation with the goal of decreasing future criminality by means of intense treatment and supervision.

Prior to his election 2014 Judge Fagalde worked as an attorney for over 31 years, practicing primarily in Mariposa and Merced Counties.  He is a member, and past president, of the Mariposa Rotary Club and does volunteer work in the community, most recently speaking to classes of high school seniors about how the law effects then when then turn 18, as an umpire for the Mariposa Little League and at the high school Sober Grad party.  He and his wife, Sharon, reside in Catheys Valley and are the parents of two adult children, and grandparents of three.

Source: Superior Court Judge Michael Fagalde