Evelio M. Grillo
Evelio M. Grillo was a judge of the Superior Court of Alameda County in California. He assumed office in 2003. He left office on January 6, 2025.
Grillo won re-election for judge of the Superior Court of Alameda County in California outright in the primary on June 5, 2018, after the primary and general election were canceled.
Biography
Grillo received a J.D. from Harvard University. Prior to becoming a judge for the Superior Court of Alameda County, Grillo was a partner at the firm of Grillo and Stevens.[1]
Elections
2018
Nonpartisan primary election
The primary election was canceled. Evelio M. Grillo (Nonpartisan) won the election without appearing on the ballot.
2012
- See also: California judicial elections, 2012
Grillo ran for re-election to the superior court in 2012. As an unopposed incumbent, his name did not appear on the ballot. After the primary election, Grillo was automatically re-elected.[2]
Selection method
- See also: Nonpartisan election
The 1,535 judges of the California Superior Courts compete in nonpartisan races in even-numbered years. If a candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote in the June primary election, he or she is declared the winner; if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff between the top two candidates is held during the November general election.[3][4][5][6]
If an incumbent judge is running unopposed in an election, his or her name does not appear on the ballot. The judge is automatically re-elected following the general election.[3]
The chief judge of any given superior court is selected by peer vote of the court's members. He or she serves in that capacity for one or two years, depending on the county.[3]
Qualifications
Candidates are required to have 10 years of experience as a law practitioner or as a judge of a court of record.[3]
Noteworthy cases
Jahi McMath declared brain-dead
When 13-year-old Jahi McMath went in for tonsil surgery, no one knew that it would be her demise. Due to complications at the Children's Hospital & Research Center in Oakland, the girl was declared brain dead on December 19, 2013—three days after her surgery began.
After the surgery, the girl was moved to intensive care due to excessive bleeding, where she went into cardiac arrest. A CT scan later revealed that most of her brain had swollen.
Her family wanted to keep McMath on life support, but the hospital said that was not an option. Her death had already been reported to the coroner. The family then sent a cease-and-desist letter to the hospital to try to stop them from taking the girl off life support.[7] The case went to the Alameda County Superior Court, where Grillo found that the girl was indeed brain dead. However, the judge said both parties should hold off on any decisions until December 30.[8] The hospital was authorized to take McMath off of life support at 5 p.m. on that day. However, Grillo decided at the last minute to postpone that deadline until January 7. The family and their attorney continued their attempts to keep the girl on life support through appeal.[9]
On January 3, 2014, pursuant to an agreement made in Alameda County Superior Court, McMath's mother was allowed to have her daughter removed from Oakland Children's Hospital. The agreement made McMath's mother responsible for her care. McMath was transported from the hospital by ambulance to an undisclosed location.[10] According to an article in the Contra Costa Times on February 19, her mother released a statement via Twitter saying her daughter's condition was "much better" but provided no further details.[11] McMath was still being kept alive on a ventilator as of March 13, 2014.[12]
Release of pepper spray report
In early March 2012, Grillo delayed release of a report compiled by the University of California. The report detailed the actions of campus police during the Occupy protests at the university on November 18, 2011. In a video made public, a security officer doused seated protesters in the face with pepper spray. Grillo permitted a delay in the release of the report after the police union said the report could endanger the officers.[13]
At the end of March, Grillo ruled the report should be released, saying, "The court is not persuaded that either the Legislature or the California Supreme Court intended [the law protecting officer information] to apply whenever public entities investigated law enforcement policies, procedures or actions."[14] The judge did agree with the police union that the names of two officers involved not be released to the public. The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California intended to press for the release of the full report.[14]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Metropolitan News-Enterprise, "Davis Names Pines, Five Others to Los Angeles Superior Court," November 13, 2003
- ↑ Alameda County Registrar of Voters, Candidate Filed Log
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: California," archived October 2, 2014
- ↑ Los Angeles Times, "Safeguarding California's judicial election process," August 21, 2011
- ↑ California Elections Code, "Section 8203," accessed May 21, 2014
- ↑ California Elections Code, "Section 8140-8150," accessed May 21, 2014
- ↑ CNN, "Family wants to keep life support for girl brain dead after tonsil surgery," December 18, 2013
- ↑ CNN, "http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/24/health/jahi-mcmath-girl-brain-dead/," December 26, 2013
- ↑ CNN, "Court blocks hospital from disconnecting Jahi McMath from life support," December 30, 2013
- ↑ Contra Costa Times, "Jahi McMath: 13-year-old brain-dead Oakland girl moved by family from hospital," January 5, 2014
- ↑ Contra Costa Times, "Jahi McMath 'much better,' her mother says," February 20, 2014
- ↑ Contra Costa Times, "Jahi McMath: Family calls state report 'B.S.'; new medical record details emerge," March 13, 2013
- ↑ MercuryNews.com, "Judge delays UC pepper-spray report," March 6, 2012
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 The Los Angeles Times, "Judge calls for near-complete release of UC pepper-spray report," March 29, 2012
Federal courts:
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Central District of California, Eastern District of California, Northern District of California, Southern District of California • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Central District of California, Eastern District of California, Northern District of California, Southern District of California
State courts:
California Supreme Court • California Courts of Appeal • California Superior Courts
State resources:
Courts in California • California judicial elections • Judicial selection in California
