John F. LemMon, JD, MBA
Superior Court Attorney
About
John holds both a Doctorate in Law (JD), and a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA). John’s published Master’s Thesis on “Total Quality Management in the Public Sector, Managing Misdemeanor Prosecutions.” was presented at the ORSA/TIMS Conference in Arizona. The Operations Research Society and The Institute for Managerial Science held a joint conference where John was invited to present his thesis. John urged that government ought to run more like a business with an emphasis on customer satisfaction, the customer being the public.
EXPERIENCE MATTERS
John has been an Attorney at Law since December 1989, now holding over 33 years of legal experience in criminal, civil, and administrative legal fields. John believes that when it comes to serving as a Judge, experience matters. Together with his thirty three years of legal experience, John served 17 years as a Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Pro-Tem (Temporary Judge). John has also volunteered for the Sonoma County Superior Court civil settlement conference panel for 25 years, until it was halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
John also has served as a Sonoma County Community Development Commission mobile home rent control arbitrator, a Sonoma County Bar Association fee arbitrator, and as a Palo Alto Police Department hearing officer.
John’s background includes serving as a Sonoma County Deputy District Attorney and Sonoma Deputy City Attorney; his balanced criminal, civil and administrative law background will bring experience, compassion, decisiveness, and fairness to the Sonoma County Superior Court bench.
Speaking
SCBA Judicial Forum, 2022
Monday April 25, 2022
5:30 – 7:00 on Zoom
CIVIL JUSTICE
John supports a strong and accessible civil justice system to defend public health, safety and the environment, and to vindicate the rights of consumers, injured persons, employees, and all of our citizens equally. The Seventh Amendment right to a trial by jury in civil cases was intended by the Framers to put a check on the potential abuse of power by the government and place control in the hands of “the common people.”
“Justice delayed is justice denied” is a reality that the civil justice system must face. Extended waits for civil lawsuits and legal issues that touch everyday lives – divorces, child custody, hearings, conservatorships, probate, traffic hearings, and small claims – in extreme examples from several months to several years must be managed.
Multi-lingual legal assistance for people who represent themselves as well as for those who are represented must be supported. Eliminating or diminishing access to to the courts for immigrant communities must not be tolerated.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
John is committed to public safety, while supporting a criminal justice system that provides a fair and equitable treatment for all. Crime prevention and rehabilitation must focus on evidence-based programs and investments in alternatives to incarceration when appropriate. John is committed to eliminating racial and economic disparities within the criminal justice system, and to ending mass incarceration in California prisons and jails. John is committed to being a judge who exercises judgment, not just administer rote punishment.
Criminal justice includes every aspect of the criminal justice system, including what we choose to criminalize, the practices and behaviours of law enforcement professionals, charging, sentencing, and bail; treatment of those incarcerated; diversion and rehabilitation; and, eventual reintegration of the formerly incarcerated into society.
John is committed to a fair and just criminal justice system.
LEMMON FOR JUDGE 