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An order of the Presiding Judge (Hon. Michael R. Deems), effective January 1, 2026 and dated October 30, 2025, routing matters to the named judicial officers: Department 3 (Judge Jesus A. Rodriguez, 2026 Presiding Judge and 2026 Presiding Judge of the Juvenile Court) - Welfare and Institutions Code § 300 matters, adoptions, Family Code §7840 petitions, petitions to inspect adoption and birth records, § 601 and § 602 matters, infractions under Education Code § 48293(a) and the administration of the grand juries; Departments 2, 5, 7 and 4 (Michael R. Deems, 2026 Assistant Presiding Judge, also supervising the Collaborative Courts; Kimberly Merrifield; Virginia L. Gingery, 2026 Supervising Judge of the Criminal Division; Kristen A. Lucena) - felony matters by the defendant's last name (A-EA, EB-LE, LF-RI, RJ-Z) and co-defendants by the month of filing (Exhibit A); Department 10 (Philip H. Heithecker) - other misdemeanor matters and Penal Code § 415 and § 484-488-490.1(a) infractions where the defendant's last name begins with A-E and S-Z, elections and mandatory civil settlement conferences; Department 8 (Ruby S. Neumann) - those misdemeanors and infractions for F-R, Parole and Post Community Release Supervision Revocation Petitions, misdemeanor DUI matters where the defendant is not represented by a Public Defender, juvenile infractions and guardianships of the person only; Departments 11 and 9 (Clare Keithley, 2026 Supervising Judge of the Family Division; Corie J. Caraway) - family law matters other than Department of Child Support Services Title IV-D matters, randomly assigned fifty percent each, and in Department 9 the CRC 5.83 status conferences; Department 1 (Tamara L. Mosbarger, 2026 Supervising Judge of the Civil Division) - unlimited civil matters randomly assigned, asset forfeiture, probate (excluding guardianships of the person only), petitions under Welfare and Institutions Code § 5250 and § 8103 and LPS conservatorships; Department 6 (Stephen E. Benson) - unlimited civil matters randomly assigned, limited civil matters, CEQA matters, firearm and dog petitions, change of name and/or gender and CARE Act petitions; Commissioner Leah B. Sears - misdemeanor DUI matters where the defendant is represented by a Public Defender, and the Collaborative Court Calendars (Drug Court, HIDE, Domestic Violence, Veterans Treatment Court, Mental Health Diversion, Military Diversion); Commissioner Mark Emmons - Butte County Department of Child Support Services-Title IV-D matters with the related Penal Code § 270 and § 166(a)(4) matters, small claims when a Judge Pro Tempore is not available, adult infractions (excluding those assigned above), limited unlawful detainers and civil harassment; orders submitted for signature routed to the judicial officer who made them, or, when that officer is away from the court for more than five (5) consecutive Court days, under Code of Civil Procedure § 635 to the division's Supervising Judge or the Presiding Judge; reassignment after a disqualification through the division's Supervising Judge, the Presiding Judge or the Assistant Presiding Judge, and in the Criminal Division by Exhibit B; assignments for all purposes within the meaning of Code of Civil Procedure § 170.6(a)(2), and a peremptory challenge when the felony trial assignment calendar assigns a new trial judge; a visiting judge on the Shasta Exchange calendar when all available judicial officers are disqualified; a Judge Pro Tempore for all Small Claims Matters; and the judges designated as Judges of the Juvenile Court under Section 246 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
BCSC 2026-AO-01 SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OF BUTTE In the Matter of JUDICIAL DUTIES ORDER FOR 2026 COURT ASSIGNMENTS This Order is made to facilitate the distribution of files and proper routing of matters by court staff and supersedes any previous orders or addendums. NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED THAT: I. Effective January 1, 2026, the following matters shall be referred directly by st
Reviewer note: Transcribed 2026-10-10 (California T4 Butte build 2026-10-10) by eye from BenchPath custody ca/t4/ca-butte/docs/general/bcsc-2026-ao-01-order-2026-court-assignments.pdf (917410 bytes, sha256 f46e810e8e47754d23b1b6b0dd7ecedf8549c368093015423b893d580765a919; 10 pages; scanned page images with an invisible OCR text layer): read on the page images rendered at 200 dpi; checked against two machine readings never published (RapidOCR on each page and the file's own invisible OCR layer, made by the Acrobat Paper Capture plug-in): every 6-word window of the transcription looked up, and the 26 spans the readings do not hold - 25 of them page and line breaks the readings fill with the pleading line numbers, the clerk's filing stamp or the page footer, the handwritten date the readings carry apart, and the two exhibits' cells the readings interleave row by row; the one wording difference, the Food and Agricultural Code section the readings give as “3160l” and “3160 I”, is “31601” on the page image read at 500 dpi (vision/check-log.txt). The Presiding Judge's handwritten signature and the clerk's filing stamp are not part of the text; the pleading line numbers and the footer “Page N of 8” are not carried; each exhibit is set one row per line, its cells separated by “ | ”; the transcription's closing note, which describes the pages, is not published. Review note: Transcribed by eye from the ten scanned pages (vision/check-log.txt); the exhibits are set one row per line, their cells separated by “ | ”. Carried as printed: “Acts a Presiding Judge”, “RJ-Z and” without a comma, “Title IV-D, as randomly assigned” in Department 9's line, and “Virginia Gingery” without her middle initial in Part V. This is the court's 2026 order: a bench review task asks for the re-read for 2027.
9 verbatim requirements from 4th Circuit Administrative Order 1997-10.
6 verbatim requirements from 4th Circuit Administrative Order 1997-13.
California > Third Appellate District > Butte County > Superior Court of California, County of Butte
BCSC 2026-AO-01 SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OF BUTTE In the Matter of JUDICIAL DUTIES ORDER FOR 2026 COURT ASSIGNMENTS This Order is made to facilitate the distribution of files and proper routing of matters by court staff and supersedes any previous orders or addendums. NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED THAT: I. Effective January 1, 2026, the following matters shall be referred directly by staff to the named judicial officer indicated unless otherwise expressly assigned: A. TO: JUDGE JESUS A. RODRIGUEZ – Department 3 2026 PRESIDING JUDGE; 2026 PRESIDING JUDGE OF THE JUVENILE COURT; All Welfare and Institutions Code § 300 matters; All Adoptions; All petitions to declare a minor free from parental custody and control pursuant to Family Code §7840; All petitions to inspect adoption and birth records; All Juvenile Welfare and Institutions Code § 601 and § 602 matters; All infractions under Education Code § 48293(a); All matters pertaining to the administration of the 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 Grand Juries; All other matters as assigned. B. TO: JUDGE MICHAEL R. DEEMS – Department 2 2026 ASSISTANT PRESIDING JUDGE: Acts a Presiding Judge in the absence of the Presiding Judge: Supervisory duties of Collaborative Courts; All felony matters where the defendant’s last name begins with A-EA, and Co-Defendants as specified in “2026 Criminal Co-Defendant Assignments” (Exhibit A); All other matters as assigned. C. TO: JUDGE VIRGINIA L. GINGERY – Department 7 2026 SUPERVISING JUDGE OF THE CRIMINAL DIVISION All felony matters where the defendant’s last name begins with LF-RI, and Co-Defendants as specified in “2026 Criminal Co-Defendant Assignments” (Exhibit A); All other matters as assigned. D. TO: JUDGE KIMBERLY MERRIFIELD – Department 5 All felony matters where the defendant’s last name begins with EB-LE, and Co-Defendants as specified in “2026 Criminal Co-Defendant Assignments” (Exhibit A); All other matters as assigned. E. TO: JUDGE KRISTEN A. LUCENA – Department 4 All felony matters where the defendant’s last name begins with RJ-Z and Co-Defendants as specified in “2026 Criminal Co-Defendant Assignments” (Exhibit A); All other matters as assigned. F. TO: JUDGE PHILIP H. HEITHECKER – Department 10 All other misdemeanor matters where the defendant’s last name begins with A-E and S-Z; All Penal Code § 415 and § 484-488-490.1(a) infractions where the defendant’s last name begins with A-E and S-Z; All matters pertaining to elections, including matters brought under Elections Code § 2100 and § 2142(a); All mandatory civil settlement conferences (MSC) calendared by the Civil Division as assigned; All other matters as assigned. G. TO: JUDGE RUBY S. NEUMANN – Department 8 All Parole and Post Community Release Supervision Revocation Petitions; All misdemeanor DUI matters where the defendant is not represented by a Public Defender; All other misdemeanor matters where the defendant’s last name begins with F-R; All Penal Code § 415 and § 484-488-490.1(a) infractions where the defendant’s last name begins with F-R; All Juvenile infraction matters; All Guardianships of the Person Only; All other matters as assigned. H. TO: JUDGE CLARE KEITHLEY – Department 11 2026 SUPERVISING JUDGE OF THE FAMILY DIVISION; Family law matters, except for Butte County Department of Child Support Services Title IV-D matters, as randomly assigned to equal fifty percent of the total filings; All other matters as assigned. I. TO: JUDGE CORIE J. CARAWAY – Department 9 Family law matters, except for Butte County Department of Child Support Services Title IV-D, as randomly assigned to equal fifty percent of the total filings; All CRC 5.83 Family Law Case Management Status Conferences; All other matters as assigned. J. TO: JUDGE TAMARA L. MOSBARGER – Department 1 2026 SUPERVISING JUDGE OF THE CIVIL DIVISION; All unlimited civil matters randomly assigned; All asset forfeiture cases; All probate cases, excluding Guardianships of the Person only; All petitions under Welfare and Institutions Code § 5250 and § 8103; All LPS conservatorship cases; All other matters as assigned. K. TO: JUDGE STEPHEN E. BENSON – Department 6 All unlimited civil matters as randomly assigned; All limited civil matters; All civil matters relating to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA); All firearm petitions under Welfare and Institutions Code § 8102 and § 8103; All dog petitions under Food and Agricultural Code § 31601 et seq.; All petitions for change of name and/or gender; All CARE Act petitions; All other matters as assigned. L. TO: COMMISSIONER LEAH B. SEARS All misdemeanor DUI matters where the defendant is represented by a Public Defender; Collaborative Court Calendars – All cases referred to and accepted into: Drug Court calendar; HIDE (High Intensity Driving under the Influence Enforcement) calendar; Domestic Violence calendar; Veterans Treatment Court calendar; Mental Health Diversion calendar; Military Diversion calendar; All other matters as assigned. M. TO: COMMISSIONER MARK EMMONS All Butte County Department of Child Support Services-Title IV-D matters; All Penal Code § 270 and § 166(a)(4) matters related to Butte County Department of Child Support Services-Title IV-D matters; All Small Claims matters, when a Judge Pro Tempore is not available; All Adult infraction matters, excluding Penal Code § 415 and § 484-488-490.1(a), excluding infractions under Education Code § 48293(a); All Limited Unlawful Detainer matters; All Civil Harassment matters; All other matters as assigned. II. The following general principles are applicable in referring matters pursuant to these assignments: A. Orders submitted for signature shall be routed to the judicial officer who made the order. If the judicial officer who made the order is unavailable, then it shall be routed pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure § 635, as follows: i. to the Supervising Judge of the division in which the unavailable judicial officer presided; or ii. to the Presiding Judge. For the purposes of this section, a judge is unavailable for signature if the judge is away from the court for more than five (5) consecutive Court days. III. The following general principles apply when determining reassignment after a disqualification of judicial officer: A. In the event a judicial officer is disqualified, or if the parties do not stipulate to a Commissioner (if required), the case shall be referred to the Supervising Judge of the division for reassignment, with exception of the following: i. If the Supervising Judge is disqualified, the case shall be referred to the Presiding Judge for reassignment. ii. If the Presiding Judge is disqualified the case shall be referred to the Assistant Presiding Judge for reassignment, pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure § 170.3(a)(2). iii. In divisions where only two Judges preside, if one is disqualified, the case shall be reassigned to the Judge who has not been disqualified. This shall also apply to the Criminal Misdemeanor assignments. iv. In the Criminal Division, by this order, cases shall be reassigned according to Exhibit B. v. In the Juvenile Division, if the assigned judge is disqualified, the matter will be referred to the Presiding Judge for assignment. vi. Assignments of non-Criminal cases are for all purposes, within the meaning of Code of Civil Procedure § 170.6(a)(2). Assignments of non-Criminal cases as a result of a disqualification, recusal or unavailability of another judicial officer, will be assignments for all purposes, within the meaning of Code of Civil Procedure § 170.6(a)(2). B. Assignments of Criminal cases are for all purposes within the meaning of Code of Civil Procedure § 170.6(a)(2) effective upon the first court appearance on the criminal calendar of the assigned judge. Assignments of Criminal cases as a result of a disqualification, recusal, or unavailability of another judicial officer, will be assignments for all purposes, within the meaning of Code of Civil Procedure § 170.6(a)(2), effective upon the first court appearance before that judicial officer. C. If, at the felony trial assignment calendar, a jury trial is assigned to a trial judge other than the previously assigned felony alpha judge, the parties will have the right to exercise a peremptory challenge pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure § 170.6(a)(2) as to the newly assigned trial judge, unless the party has previously exercised a peremptory challenge in the matter. D. In the event that all available judicial officers are disqualified, the matter shall be heard by a visiting judge on the Shasta Exchange calendar or as otherwise assigned. E. At the request of a neighboring court, the Presiding Judge will assign a Judge of the Butte Superior Court to assist as needed, to include Shasta Superior Court on the Exchange calendar. IV. As permitted by California Rules of Court, Rule 2.810-2.811, a court-appointed temporary judge (“Judge Pro Tempore”) is assigned to hear all Small Claims Matters. V. Pursuant to Section 246 of the Welfare and Institutions Code of the State of California, Judges Stephen E. Benson, Corie J. Caraway, Michael R. Deems, Virginia Gingery, Philip H. Heithecker, Clare Keithley, Kristen A. Lucena, Kimberly Merrifield, Tamara L. Mosbarger, Ruby S. Neumann, and Jesus A. Rodriguez are designated as Judges of the Juvenile Court. Dated: October 30, 2025 Hon. Michael R. Deems Presiding Judge of the Superior Court 2026 Criminal Co-Defendant Assignments Cases filed in the month of: | Assigned to: January May September | Michael R. Deems – Department 2 February June October | Kimberly Merrifield – Department 5 March July November | Virginia L. Gingery – Department 7 April August December | Kristen A. Lucena – Department 4 EXHIBIT A 2026 Criminal Judicial Officer Reassignment after Disqualification Disqualified Judicial Officer | Reassigned Judicial Officer Michael R. Deems | Kimberly Merrifield Kimberly Merrifield | Michael R. Deems Michael R. Deems and Kimberly Merrifield | Virginia L. Gingery Virginia L. Gingery | Kristen A. Lucena Kristen A. Lucena | Virginia L. Gingery Virginia L. Gingery and Kristen A. Lucena | Michael R. Deems Philip H. Heithecker and Ruby S. Neumann | Supervising Judge of the Criminal Division EXHIBIT B