{"id":259750,"date":"2026-04-09T18:35:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T18:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/259750\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T18:35:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T18:35:08","slug":"ami-sagel-vs-charles-pell-for-orange-county-superior-court-judge-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/259750\/","title":{"rendered":"Ami Sagel vs Charles Pell for Orange County Superior Court judge \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

Superior Court judgeships are the offices least known to voters before elections in California. When there\u2019s a vacancy, judges first are appointed by the governor, vetted by the State Bar\u2019s Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation<\/a>, then confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments<\/a>. Once on the bench, they are retained by voters at the next election, then every six years. Commonly they are unopposed.<\/p>\n

This time, two seats are being contested<\/a> in Orange County. I\u2019ll cover Office No. 13 in a subsequent column. Office No. 41 pits incumbent Ami S. Sagel<\/a>, appointed in 2023 by Gov. Gavin Newsom, against Charles E. Pell<\/a>, a former federal prosecutor. The office is nonpartisan. Sagel is a Democrat and Pell is No Party Preference.<\/p>\n

The contest involved two legal complaints by Pell. In the first, he contended Sagel\u2019s name on the ballot should read \u201cAmi Sheth Sagel.\u201d He told me an incumbent \u201cshould use the exact name that you do on the bench, because there\u2019s a record associated with that.\u201d She told me Pell\u2019s lawsuit \u201ccherry picked\u201d information from the \u201cWayback Machine\u201d on the internet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the second complaint, Pell sought to have his ballot designation read, \u201cFederal Criminal Prosecutor.\u201d Instead, it reads, \u201cNo ballot designation.\u201d He said people might consider him a gardener.<\/p>\n

Sagel\u2019s parents are from India. The Register reported<\/a>, \u201cPell\u2019s attorney, Bradley W. Hertz, told Judge Schneider that there was no racist intent behind their challenge to Sagel\u2019s ballot designation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pell lost both complaints. I would give it, as they say in the legal profession, a split decision. With respect to Sagel\u2019s name, people commonly use different versions of their names, so that was decided fairly. I sometimes use my middle initial, \u201cC.\u201d But on the ballot designation point, it\u2019s unfair Pell was denied his background as a two-decade federal prosecutor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sagel, also a former federal prosecutor, said her background in family law led her to be appointed to that specialty by Maria D. Hernandez<\/a>, in 2023 the court\u2019s presiding judge. Although I haven\u2019t been involved in such procedures directly myself, I have attended court with friends who have. It\u2019s always an emotionally wrenching process, on top of the legal and financial struggles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe types of things that I hear have to do with child custody and visitation, domestic violence and restraining orders,\u201d Sagel said. \u201cI just try to remember four things: competency, fairness, impartiality and empathy.\u201d<\/p>\n

A big problem in all courts is delays, which can be especially painful in family law cases. She said she tries to keep trial wait times to four months, routine hearings to six weeks and emergencies to the same day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I asked about cases sometimes involving one wealthy parent, and one with no money for legal counsel. She said she examines the poor person\u2019s finances \u201cunder oath,\u201d and determines if the wealthier person should pay fees \u201con the front end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pell cited his prosecution of major federal cases, including former Supervisor Andrew Do<\/a>, who pleaded guilty in 2024 to conspiracy to commit bribery. \u201cI charged tax cheats, very rich people and then, on the other hand, I prosecuted cases that protected the very vulnerable,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause I don\u2019t like people abusing power.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of our concerns at the Register is overzealous prosecutors. He said he doesn\u2019t \u201cprosecute at all costs,\u201d but weighs each case individually. On court delays, he said he would imitate friends who are judges and, when their arraignments are finished early, take on more cases.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I asked Pell about treating poor and rich defendants fairly. The poor lack money. But the rich sometimes actually can face a prejudiced jury.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u201cI will treat everybody the same based on the facts and the evidence, whether they\u2019re the most humble person, or the most powerful attorney, law enforcement or political person,\u201d he said. \u201cThe rules have to apply to everybody. In my 20 years as a prosecutor, I think I proved that I treated everybody the same and fairly.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Relatedly, Sagel told our editorial board about collaborative courts meant to deal with cases involving people in tough situations. \u201cThe court system in Orange County has worked hard to create collaborative courts that help try working with individuals (minors and adults) who face nearly insurmountable circumstances. The goals of the collaborative courts are to provide support to allow the offender to take responsibility for his\/her own life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pell attended USC for undergrad and the school\u2019s Gould School of Law. Sagel attended Claremont McKenna College for undergrad and the University of Chicago Law School. <\/p>\n

Both Pell and Sagel are qualified for the job. After talking to them, I can see why voters often have difficulty picking the right candidate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

John Seiler is on the SCNG Editorial Board\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Superior Court judgeships are the offices least known to voters before elections in California. When there\u2019s a vacancy,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259751,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,964,975,2082],"class_list":["post-259750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-commentary","tag-opinion","tag-opinion-columnists"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}