Two Riverside County Prosecutors Promoted To Judges

Two Riverside County prosecutors and a public defender were appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to judgeships, it was announced today.

Victoria E. Cameron, John M. Davis and Elaine M.K. Johnson will fill vacancies created by the retirements of judicial officers at courthouses in Corona, Indio and Riverside.

Cameron, a senior deputy district attorney assigned to the Indio branch, will be filling the seat of former Judge Graham A. Cribbs at the Larson Justice Center.

Cameron, 61, has been with the Riverside County District Attorney’s office since 2006. Prior to that, she was a prosecutor for San Bernardino County.

Davis, 62, who has been with the Riverside County D.A.’s office since 1985, will be filling the seat vacated by Judge Edward Webster, who retired last year from the Riverside Hall of Justice.

Johnson, 50, has been with the Riverside County Public Defender’s Office since 2000. She was in private practice before that, and between 1986 and 1990 served as a judge advocate general in the U.S. Army.

Her husband, Mark Johnson, also a former public defender, was appointed to a judgeship in March 2009. He hears criminal and civil matters at the Riverside Historic Courthouse.

Elaine Johnson will be filling the vacancy left by Judge Patrick Magers, who presided at the Corona Courthouse.

Cameron and Davis are Republicans. Johnson is a Democrat.

Each will be paid $178,789 a year.