In her 2026 State of the Judiciary address, Patricia Guerrero told lawmakers that while funding for trial courts has increased, the need for additional judges—particularly in Riverside and San Bernardino counties—remains urgent.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget includes $70 million in ongoing support for trial courts. Still, Guerrero emphasized that the funding alone won’t resolve the deeper issue of staffing shortages.

The impact of that shortage is already being felt. Between January 2023 and early March of this year, hundreds of criminal cases in Riverside County were dismissed due to overcrowded court calendars—437 misdemeanors and 57 felonies, according to Guerrero’s remarks.

A 2022 report from the Judicial Council of California underscores the scope of the problem. At the time, Riverside County was short 22 judges, while San Bernardino County faced an even larger gap of 30. No other county in the state came close; Kern County, for comparison, needed 11.

Local court officials say the situation hasn’t improved as much as the numbers might suggest.

While the governor’s office points out there are currently no official vacancies in Riverside County’s authorized judgeships, court representatives say that distinction doesn’t reflect the real demand.

Kareem Gongora, a spokesperson for Riverside County courts, explained that the state is referring only to funded and authorized positions—not the total number of judges actually needed to handle caseloads.

San Bernardino officials echoed that concern. Even with only one formal vacancy, court leaders say they still need dozens more judges to keep up. According to court spokesperson Brittany Cabrera, judges there are handling workloads about 18% higher than the state average, with each judge managing more than 3,100 cases.

There have been some recent appointments. Newsom named John Balla to the San Bernardino bench in late March, and has appointed three judges—Thanh Ngo, Mickie Reed and Michael Martin—to Riverside County since 2025.

But officials say those additions are not enough to close the gap.

To help manage the overflow, Riverside County has increasingly relied on temporary judges assigned through a state program. The approach has provided some relief, but it comes at a cost—roughly $3 million in the last fiscal year alone.

“Our judges and staff are managing sustained, high caseloads while demand for court services continues to grow,” said Jason B. Galkin, executive officer for Riverside Superior Court.

He noted that while temporary judges are helpful, they are only a short-term solution. “Additional judgeships are necessary to improve case processing and ensure timely access to justice,” Galkin said.

Riverside Superior Court Presiding Judge Jacqueline C. Jackson also welcomed the attention brought by Guerrero’s remarks, saying it highlights the ongoing need to better align judicial resources with the region’s growing population.

For now, the message from court leaders is clear: without more judges, the system will continue to struggle to keep pace.

The post Inland Empire Courts Still Strained by Judge Shortage, Chief Justice Warns appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

The Indio jury weighing the fate of Riley Jacob Hagar, 28, of Cathedral City acquitted him Tuesday of murder but then informed Riverside County Superior Court Judge Anthony Villalobos that deliberations had hit an impasse on whether to find Hagar guilty of the lesser and included count of manslaughter.

The judge declared jurors hopelessly deadlocked and dismissed them, after which the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office confirmed plans to move ahead with a retrial on the manslaughter allegation. A retrial status conference is set for April 28 at the Larson Justice Center.

The defendant is being held in lieu of $30,000 at the Benoit Detention Center.

He is accused in the death of Travis O’Brien on New Year’s Day 2022.

“Mr. Hagar is the connect. He is the plug,” Deputy District Attorney Steve Sorensen told jurors earlier this month. “Hagar told Travis the date, the location and other information for how to acquire the (fentanyl- packed) pills.”

The prosecutor said O’Brien “went to the person he knew could facilitate (the sale of the drugs)” — Hagar.

Arrangements were made for O’Brien to procure the fentanyl pills so that he could sell them to someone else at a profit, according to the prosecution. But in addition to selling the hundreds of M30 “blues,” O’Brien consumed several of the synthetic opioids, investigators alleged.

The young man checked into Room 149 at the Motel 6 in the 69000 block of Highway 111 in Rancho Mirage, where he intended to stay on Jan. 1, 2022, according to trial testimony. He was found dead there that afternoon.

“(Hagar) deliberately acted with conscious disregard to human life. He didn’t care,” Sorensen said.

The prosecutor asserted that the defendant was the conduit for the fentanyl acquisition, and hence bears responsibility for O’Brien’s death from “acute fentanyl intoxication.”

But defense attorney Ryan Markson rejected the prosecution’s interpretation of what happened, insisting Hagar wasn’t the one who directly provided the fentanyl and had no idea of the lethality of the particular pills that the victim ingested.

“This is the real thing. It’s as real as it gets,” Markson told the jury. “Accountability is at the essence of the justice system. O’Brien caused his own death.”

He asked jurors whether there was anything fair about trying to make his client “accountable for Travis’ death?”

The attorney reminded jurors that O’Brien contacted Hagar, and that the latter “wasn’t in the business of selling fentanyl,” but didn’t want to ignore the request for help setting up a transaction.

“My client is guilty of poor judgment, not murder,” Markson said.

Hagar was arrested in August 2022, following a months-long investigation by the sheriff’s Overdose Death Investigations Unit. He has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.

Since February 2021, prosecutors have charged more than three dozen people in connection with fentanyl poisonings. Two prosecutions have resulted in murder convictions.

Preliminary health statistics indicated there were 229 suspected fentanyl-related fatalities countywide in 2025, compared to 351 confirmed poisonings in 2024, a roughly 40 percent decline.

Fentanyl is manufactured in overseas labs, principally in China, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which says the opioid is smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border by cartels.

It’s 80 to 100 times more potent than morphine and can be mixed into any number of street narcotics and prescription drugs, without a recipient knowing what he or she is consuming. Ingestion of only two milligrams can be fatal.

The post Jurors Deadlock In Trial Of RivCo Man Accused Of Contributing To Fentanyl Death appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.