The Alameda County Superior Court, officially the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda, is the California superior court with jurisdiction over

Alameda County Alameda County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and 21st most populous nationally. The county seat is Oakland. Alam ...

as established by Article VI of the

Constitution of California The Constitution of California ( es, Constitución de California) is the primary organizing law for the U.S. state of California, describing the duties, powers, structures and functions of the government of California. California's original ...

. It functions as the

trial court A trial court or court of first instance is a court having original jurisdiction, in which trials take place. Appeals from the decisions of trial courts are usually made by higher courts with the power of appellate review (appellate courts). Mos ...

for both criminal and civil cases filed in Alameda County.

History

The original courthouse was established on June 6, 1853, in

Alvarado, California Alvarado (formerly, New Haven) is a former settlement in and former county seat of Alameda County, California, now part of Union City. It was located north-northwest of downtown Newark. In 1851, Henry C. Smith founded the town of New Haven, n ...

(a part of present-day Union City). After the county seat moved to Oakland (from

San Leandro San Leandro (Spanish for " St. Leander") is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area; between Oakland to the northwest, and Ashland, Castro Valley, and Hayward to the sout ...

), a new courthouse was built in 1875, locating near Oakland's Washington Square. However, the building quickly fell into disrepair by the mid-1920s to a point where bailiffs had to hold umbrellas for judges due to leaks. On April 3, 1934, county residents voted overwhelming in support for a

bond Bond or bonds may refer to: Common meanings * Bond (finance), a type of debt security * Bail bond, a commercial third-party guarantor of surety bonds in the United States * Chemical bond, the attraction of atoms, ions or molecules to form chemica ...

initiative to build a new county courthouse. The new building was built on the edge of

Lake Merritt Lake Merritt is a large tidal lagoon in the center of Oakland, California, just east of Downtown. It is surrounded by parkland and city neighborhoods. It is historically significant as the United States' first official wildlife refuge, designate ...

, where it still stands today, as the

René C. Davidson Courthouse The René C. Davidson Courthouse (originally, Alameda County Court House) is the main courthouse, part of the Alameda County Superior Court system. The art deco style courthouse was completed in 1934 and is located in the county seat of Oakland, Ca ...

. The old courthouse was demolished in 1949. The court currently occupies a number of courthouses throughout the county. In 1925, future Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Earl Warren was appointed (and later elected) District Attorney of Alameda County.

Courthouses

, built in 1934 in Oakland to house the entire Alameda County Superior Court. **Used mostly for

felony A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that resu ...

criminal cases. Includes a

civil Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

division clerk's office (e.g. for filing restraining orders) and

appeals In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...

unit. * Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse, Oakland, named for Associate Justice

Wiley Manuel Wiley William Manuel (August 28, 1927–January 5, 1981) was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California from 1977 to 1981 and the first African American to serve on the high court. Biography Manuel was born in Oakland, Californi ...

of the

California Supreme Court The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sac ...

. **Used for criminal cases, mostly misdemeanors. * Hayward Hall of Justice, located in Hayward, the largest full service courthouse in Alameda County **Used mostly for

matters, including

family law Family law (also called matrimonial law or the law of domestic relations) is an area of the law that deals with family matters and domestic relations. Overview Subjects that commonly fall under a nation's body of family law include: * Marriage ...

and restraining orders. * George E. McDonald Hall of Justice,

Alameda An alameda is a Avenue (landscape), street or path lined with trees () and may refer to: Places Canada *Alameda, Saskatchewan, town in Saskatchewan **Grant Devine Dam, formerly ''Alameda Dam'', a dam and reservoir in southern Saskatchewan Chile ...

* Berkeley Courthouse,

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

* Fremont Hall of Justice, Fremont * Juvenile Justice Center,

*East County Hall of Justice,

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

(opened June 21, 2017)

Jails

Santa Rita Jail Santa Rita Jail is a county jail located in Dublin, Alameda County, California, and operated by the Alameda County Sheriff's Office. With a design capacity of 3489, Santa Rita is one of the largest prisons in the United States and larger than m ...

in Dublin, California *Glenn Dyer Jail in Oakland, California

Criminal Procedure

As a California trial court, the Alameda County Superior Court follows the same steps of criminal procedure as do all courts statewide. # Arrest (usually kept in jail at

) # Arraignment (usually at Wiley Manuel Courthouse, Rene C Davidson Courthouse, or East County Hall of Justice) # Preliminary Examination (for

felonies A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that resu ...

) # Pre-Trial # Trial # Sentencing (if convicted) # Appeal (convicted defendants have the right to appeal both misdemeanors and felonies, and the right to be released on bail pending the outcome of the appeal for misdemeanors)

Administration

Pursuant to

California Government Code The California Codes are 29 legal codes enacted by the California State Legislature, which together form the general statutory law of California. The official Codes are maintained by the California Office of Legislative Counsel for the Legislature ...

�
68070
and the Judicial Councilbr>California Rules of Court
§ 10.613, the Alameda County Superior Court has adopte
Local Rules
for its government and the government of its officers. Pursuant to California Rule of Court 2.506 and Government Code Section 68150(h), courts may impose fees for the costs of providing access to its electronic records. Several superior courts do so, including Alameda, Los Angeles, Riverside, Sacramento, and San Diego, and the fees have been criticized as exorbitant and extraordinarily high, with the Alameda County Superior Court fees being the subject of a

MoveOn.org MoveOn (formerly known as MoveOn.org) is a progressive public policy advocacy group and political action committee. Formed in 1998 around one of the first massively viral email petitions, MoveOn has since grown into one of the largest grassroot ...

petition.

Officers

There are several

officers of the court In common law jurisdictions, the generic term officer of the court is applied to all those who, in some degree in the function of their professional or similar qualifications, have a part in the legal system. Officers of the court may include ent ...

, including judges, jurors, commissioners, prosecutors, defense attorneys, clerks, bailiffs, and court reporters.

Judges

* Victoria Kolakowski, first transgender trial judge in the United States * Trina Thompson * Alfred Delucchi * Delbert Gee * Thomas Reardon, judge in the

Yusuf Bey IV Chauncey Bailey was an American journalist and the editor-in-chief of '' The Oakland Post''. He was shot dead on a downtown Oakland street on August 2, 2007, the victim of a crime syndicate he was investigating for a story. Bailey's death outrage ...

trial for the murder of

Chauncey Bailey Chauncey Wendell Bailey Jr. (October 20, 1949 – August 2, 2007) was an American journalist noted for his work primarily on issues of the African American community. He served as editor-in-chief of '' The Oakland Post'' in Oakland, California, ...

. * Roy Hashimoto * Dennis Hayashi *Paul Seeman, arrested at the Wiley Manuel courthouse and charged with elder theft, June 14, 2012. He resigned from the court on March 21, 2013, prior to resolution of his case.

Commissioners

A commissioner is a subordinate judicial officer elected by the judges of the Court and given the power to hear and make decisions in certain kinds of legal matters, similar to the

United States magistrate judge In United States federal courts, magistrate judges are judges appointed to assist U.S. district court judges in the performance of their duties. Magistrate judges generally oversee first appearances of criminal defendants, set bail, and conduc ...

. Their jurisdiction includes, but is not limited to, traffic matters, family law and juvenile cases, criminal misdemeanors, and criminal felony cases through the preliminary hearing stage.

Prosecutors

The

Alameda County District Attorney An alameda is a street or path lined with trees () and may refer to: Places Canada * Alameda, Saskatchewan, town in Saskatchewan ** Grant Devine Dam, formerly ''Alameda Dam'', a dam and reservoir in southern Saskatchewan Chile * Alameda (Santia ...

, currently Nancy O'Malley, prosecutes crimes before the court on behalf of Superior Court of California, Alameda County, and all cities and special districts within Alameda County.

Public Defenders

The Alameda County Public Defender was the third public defender's office created in the nation, chartered in 1927 by Earl Warren, who would later go on to become Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. During its first year, the office employed two lawyers. Today, there are over a hundred lawyers, twenty investigators and a support staff of forty, who together handle approximately 50,000 cases a year. In 2012, the office was named the "Best Law Firm" in the East Bay by the Alameda County Bar Association. The current head of the Public Defender's Office is Brendon Woods.

Clerks

The court clerks are responsible for clerical courtroom activities, interacting with the attorneys and the public, administering oaths, assisting with the impaneling juries, and are responsible for the inventory and safe-keeping of the exhibits.

Bailiffs

The functions of the bailiff are carried out by

Alameda County Sheriff The Alameda County Sheriff's Office (ACSO) is a law enforcement agency serving Alameda County, California. ACSO is accredited through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA), the American Correctional Association ( ...

, currently Gregory Ahern, under contract.

References

External links

Alameda County Superior Court website
{{Authority control Government of Alameda County, California

1850s establishments in California Courts and tribunals established in the 1850s