Mestman and Sagel Elected to OC Superior Court Bench

Two candidates who campaigned for separate seats on the Orange County Superior Court bench have prevailed.

At 52.37 percent, the Orange County Registrar of Voters determined that Robert Mestman gained more than 50 percent of the ballots cast for Superior Court Judge Office No. 13 over Ann Cho who garnered 47.63 percent.

When a candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote, he or she is elected and if no candidate receives more than 50 percent, the top two proceed to compete in the November general election.

Mestman has been working as an Orange County senior deputy district attorney and as a criminal prosecutor for more than 24 years.

He is a graduate of Northwestern University School of Law in Illinois while Cho graduated from Fountain Valley High School in Orange County, attended the University of California (UC) at Berkeley and earned her law degree from UC Law San Francisco.

Neither Mestman nor Cho responded to requests for comment.

But Mestman told BallotPedia in a survey that he is personally passionate about public safety.

“I wrote laws to combat organized retail theft and neighborhood burglaries, stop fentanyl drug dealers and hold repeat offenders accountable,” he said. “I also have helped prevent the early release of violent sex offenders and toughened penalties for major polluters damaging Orange County’s coastline.”

The Orange County Bar Association (OCBA) had rated both Mestman and Cho as ‘Well qualified’ candidates. They were evaluated for their character, temperament, professional aptitude and experience by more than 30 attorneys who have been in practice at least 10 years and are members of the OCBA Judiciary Committee.

The judiciary committee’s ratings proved to be equally prescient in another bench race, in which Ami Sheth Sagel was re-elected on June 2. Charles Pell unsuccessfully challenged Sagel who won with more than 50 percent of the ballots cast.

Sagel did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication however she revealed in a BallotPedia survey that she was raised in Southern California to immigrant parents.

“There is an ongoing need for mental health services for adults and children,” Sagel said. “Also, for many in our community, it is near impossible to afford basic needs, and financial strains are exacerbated in divorces where a one-household family is split into two. The cost of housing, childcare, and transportation are significant concerns for many families I see in court.”

The OCBA Judiciary Committee rated Sagel as ‘Exceptionally qualified’ and Pell as ‘Not qualified’ even though Pell worked for 20 years as a federal criminal prosecutor.

Pell did not respond to requests for comment but said in a BallotPedia survey that judges should show respect to all sides.

“I spent more than a decade as a public school teacher in a disadvantaged area, and I learned that helping our children in school is the best way to make sure they succeed,” he said. “As a Navy veteran and former public-school teacher, I have the temperament, maturity, and common sense to be a fair, impartial, and just judge.”

Pell garnered 31.62 percent of the votes compared to Sagel’s 68.38 percent, according to the Orange County Registrar of Voters.

When asked why Pell was rated as ‘Not qualified,’ the OCBA did not respond to requests for comment.

Photo credit: Photo created with ChatGPT.