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LAKEPORT, Calif. — After four decades in the legal profession, including 15 years on the bench, Lake County’s senior Superior Court judge is stepping down.
Judge Andrew Blum announced his plans to retire in early May and last week completed his tenure.
In an interview with Lake County News in his chambers this spring, after he made the decision to retire, Blum explained that he’d been in the legal profession for more than 40 years, mostly as a prosecutor and then, for the last 15 years, as a judge.
“So I think it’s time,” said Blum, who is 65.
In retirement, Blum said he wants to travel, and so far his schedule hasn’t allowed for much of that.
Going with him into retirement is his wife, Yolanda, who has worked for the courts for 29 years, most recently as court coordinator, judicial assistant and senior employee.
“I can’t travel without her,” he said of his wife. “She’s made that clear.”
Blum has no plans to move out of Lake County, where he’s lived for decades, but he does want to be able to visit his three adult children, who are living across the United States, and his grandchildren. This spring his fifth grandchild was born and a sixth is on the way.
He’s also looking forward to doing more work with the Lakeport Rotary and other community organizations of which he is a part.
His last day on the bench as a full-time judge was Thursday, July 3.
“The Fourth of July will be my Independence Day,” he quipped.
However, as many of his predecessors have done, Blum expects to take some judicial assignments as a retired judge at some point in the future, “if they need me.”
That they’ll need him is a given. With his retirement, the Lake County Superior Court has had to make changes to assignments, with the three remaining judges — Shanda Harry, Michael Lunas and J. David Markham — having to shift to take on additional duties.
“We’re going to miss Judge Blum,” said Lunas. “Fifteen years of excellence on the court. It’s going to be missed.”
Lunas, now the longest-serving judge of the Lake County Superior Court bench, has taken over Blum’s duties as presiding judge, a position that rotates through the judicial ranks and involves making decisions about day to day operations in addition to case work. As such, Lunas has worked to shift schedules and assignments to cover for the loss of Blum on a permanent basis.
He said they are planning to bring in visiting judges to assist with handling cases, as there are no longer any retired judges from Lake County hearing cases since David Herrick and Arthur Mann left the program.
Blum’s retirement has triggered a process that began with him notifying the Governor’s Office, which will be responsible for appointing a successor until the next election.
Interested members of the legal community can apply — there is already reported to be at least half a dozen potential candidates in the offing — and the process will be an extensive one.
Blum, who went through it himself, explained that the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation, or JNE, will take several months to thoroughly vet applications. Nine months to a year is the common time frame.
“It’s an important decision. They shouldn’t do it without due thought,” Blum said.
Decades in the law
Blum was appointed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in June 2010 to succeed Judge Arthur Mann, who retired the previous year.
He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, and his juris doctorate degree from the University of California, San Francisco's Hastings College of the Law, where he and Susan Krones — today Lake County’s district attorney — attended law school together.
Blum, who first appeared in federal court in 1982 as a law student, was admitted to the California State Bar in December 1984. That year he began working as a research attorney for the Santa Clara County Superior Court.
In 1985, he accepted a position as a deputy district attorney in the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, where he remained until 1989, the year he accepted a position with the Lake County District Attorney's Office.
From 1989 to 1991, he was a deputy district attorney in Lake County and was promoted to chief deputy district attorney in 1992, serving for five years in that job under then-District Attorney Stephen Hedstrom, who later became a Lake County Superior Court judge.
Blum later moved to Kosrae State, Micronesia, where he worked from 1997 to 2000. There, he first served as assistant attorney general under his friend and former deputy district attorney Richard Martin, who later also became a superior court judge in Lake County. After Martin left Micronesia, Blum took over as attorney general.
Blum left his post in Micronesia in 2000, going on to teach high school English from 2001 to 2002 before joining the Commission on Judicial Performance in 2003. For the next seven years, Blum prosecuted judges accused of misconduct.
He took the bench in Lake County in a July 2010 ceremony, surrounded by friends and family.
In his time on the bench, he’s seen increasing challenges, such as correctional realignment, which resulted in many more people being incarcerated in county jails rather than prisons, as well as legislative changes that impacted sentencing and prison time.
He’s seen the pendulum swing back and forth between incarceration and rehabilitation. Those philosophical differences have resulted in laws continually changing.
“Every time we turn around, the rules have changed. It’s been challenging to keep up with it,” he said. “Once you get used to one set of rules, they change them again.”
He added, “There is less judicial discretion than there once was.”
In considering his tenure, Blum points to developments that he considers important, such as opening veterans and mental health courts to address the unique needs of those populations. Both of those special courts involve treatment and structures with support from multiple agencies. He said the goal is to deal with participants’ problems at core level rather than locking everyone up.
“Mental health court is fairly new still, so the jury’s out on that,” said Blum.
However, he’s received a great response on veterans court, aimed at helping those who served our country and who have a unique set of experiences — and needs.
“It made sense to split those out from the general population,” Blum said. “I’ve had great feedback on how successful that is.”
A community program in which he has participated for several years is Every 15 Minutes, which teaches high school students about the dangers of driving under the influence.
The program reenacts fatal car crashes fueled by drug and alcohol abuse, shows mock arrests and even has the students who are acting out parts in the program make an appearance in Lake County Superior Court. There, they’ve encountered Blum, acting as judge, recounting the crimes that led them there and putting them through the same process that real defendants experience.
“I like that program,” he said, recalling seeing the impact on participants. “It’s just trying to get across to young people, who don’t think about it, the consequence of their actions.”
He’s also participated in the Lake County Mock Trial, and helped get that program off the ground more than a decade ago.
There also have been people who let him know his work mattered to them in a special way.
“People I've sent to prison have sent me letters thanking me,” he said, explaining that he believes they felt they were treated fairly.
He also recalled once coming out of the courthouse one evening when he met an elderly woman on the sidewalk. She looked up at him, asked him if he was a judge and after he said yes, she said he had sent her son to prison.
Just as he was thinking the encounter was about to go bad, the woman thanked him and said it was the best thing that had ever happened.
“That could have gone very differently,” he said, noting that, to this day, that’s the only mother to thank him in that way.
“It’s an adversarial system so it’s not designed for a lot of warm and fuzzy,” he said.
Hedstrom, who retired in 2019 from the bench, offered praise to Blum for his work in the legal community.
“During my time as the Lake County District Attorney, I had the pleasure of working with many outstanding individuals, including several who later became District Attorneys and Judges themselves,” Hedstrom said in an email to Lake County News. “When I made the decision to appoint Andy to the position of Chief Deputy District Attorney, I had complete confidence in his integrity, judgment, and leadership. Andy was my Chief Deputy District Attorney from 1992 to 1997. Throughout his career, Andy has consistently demonstrated judicial temperament. I’ve genuinely enjoyed working with him in the DA’s Office and in the Court. I am honored to have had that opportunity. I sincerely congratulate Andy on his retirement – it’s well-deserved, and I wish him and his family all the best in the years to come.”
A heavy caseload
In his 15 years on the bench, Blum and his fellow judges have handled a caseload that can include hundreds of cases per week.
A typical Monday calendar can have as many as 30 preliminary hearings and a dozen sentencings. On the day Lake County News interviewed Blum at the courthouse, he had just conducted nine sentencings that same afternoon and had a dozen file folders stacked on his desk for upcoming trials.
Tuesdays can see the judges working through more than 100 other cases, along with in-custody arraignments. Then, jury trials start on Wednesdays and can continue through the rest of the week, along with more preliminary hearings and arraignments.
“We have a much higher caseload than most courts, big or small,” Blum said, explaining that Lake County has more cases per judge than most counties.
The Judicial Council of California does a survey on caseloads per judge, weighted to type. “We are near the top of the list to get a fifth judge,” said Blum.
However, the State Legislature has to approve the creation of new judgeships. “They don’t do it when there is a budget shortfall, like there is right now,” he explained.
Just up the road, after more than a decade of delays — and the persistent championing of the project by Blum and his fellow judges — the new Lakeport courthouse is rising on Lakeport Boulevard.
At 45,300 square feet, it will triple the room now available to the Superior Court — which is mostly cramped into the 15,000 square feet on the fourth floor of the courthouse on S. Forbes Street. However, there isn’t room for a fifth courtroom to house that much-needed new judge.
That’s despite asking for it, Blum said. “They did not do that for us.”
Lake County’s second courthouse, located in Clearlake, is No. 6 on the list of worst courthouses in the state, with the county the only one to have two courthouses in need of replacement in the top 10.
Blum fought long and hard for the new Lake County courthouse. After 17 years of effort by all of the judges, the new courthouse is expected to be finished until late 2026. He and other judges toured the new building in the spring and noted it’s coming along well.
“When I told the judges I was retiring, they suggested on opening day [of the new courthouse] I should sit on the bench,” he said.
Challenges and a pandemic
During Blum’s tenure, the Superior Court has had more than the usual challenges and its fill of emergencies.
In 2018, due to the sprawling Mendocino Complex that caused the entire city of Lakeport to be evacuated, Blum — then serving as presiding judge — had to shut down the courthouse. That required the permission of the state Supreme Court’s chief justice.
“That was unprecedented,” said Blum, recounting that in-custody proceedings had to be conducted in Mendocino County.
Two years later, the court’s operations — like the activities of much of the rest of society — were upended by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“COVID was more challenging because the whole world was shut down,” he said.
It led to dramatic changes in court operations for a few years, with more virtual appearances, some of which continue.
With challenges also have come opportunities.
Blum said that in a larger county, a judge may rarely hold the presiding or supervising judge job, nor be involved with making decisions on the executive committee.
With just four judges, “We are the executive committee,” said Blum.
He said of the court, “It’s a good size for being a judge because you have input on everything of significance.”
During his time on the bench, he also taught judicial ethics across the state and served on the Trial Court Budget Committee, which advises the Judicial Council of California.
Asked about memorable cases, Blum said the seven or eight murder trials he’s presided over have all fit that definition.
One of the most notable was the trial in 2020 of Mavrick Fisher, a young deaf man accused of killing another deaf man, Grant David Whitaker, in Humboldt County the previous year. Fisher was alleged to have brought Whitaker’s body to Lake County, where it was found in 2019.
When the case came to trial, the court held the proceedings in the larger space of Phil Lewis Hall at the Lake County Fairgrounds, where jurors, prosecutors, defense and court staff could be spaced apart.
Lewis Hall at that point was adorned with big pictures of roller skates. Blum said that he had fallen and broken his foot and so was getting around Lewis Hall with a scooter.
“I could get going at a pretty good speed so that was pretty memorable,” he said.
Fisher was convicted in November 2020 of involuntary manslaughter and taking a vehicle without permission, while the jury found him not guilty of murder and hung on charges of voluntary manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon with a special allegation of great bodily injury or death.
Blum sentenced him to four years in state prison the month after the conviction.
A case Blum had to handle with even larger implications was that of Luther Ed Jones Jr.
In early 2016, it came to light that Jones had been falsely accused and then convicted of child molestation after the alleged victim came forward to say her mother, once Jones’ significant other, had pressured her to lie.
Then-District Attorney Don Anderson filed a writ of habeas corpus, and he and attorney Angela Carter, then the head of the county’s indigent defense contract, took the matter to Blum, expecting a hearing process to begin that could have lasted weeks, if not months.
However, after a review of the materials and thorough questioning of Anderson about whether or not he believed Jones was innocent — he did — Blum surprised everyone by immediately ordering Jones to be released.
Carter praised Blum for courage in acting quickly, noting, “He cut through bureaucratic tape in about an hour.”
Blum said he’d never seen a case like Jones’, with a DA telling him a person was innocent.
He recalled telling all involved, “I don’t see the need for a hearing. I’m going to order his immediate release. I don’t want him another day in jail.”
Blum added, “I think they were a little surprised I did it that way.”
That was justified by the circumstances. “I was horrified. I hadn’t seen that in all my years as a prosecutor and judge,” Blum said, adding, “That was a memorable situation for sure.”
It’s a reminder that the system is not perfect, “but overall it’s quite good,” he said.
A sendoff with praise and friendship
On Thursday, his last day on the bench, Superior Court staff held a farewell reception for Blum in his Department 3 courtroom.
Dropping in to share snacks, stories, a handshake and a hug were staffers from the District Attorney’s Office, Behavioral Health, Victim-Witness, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, court and security staff, police officers and bailiffs.
Judge Lunas, Superior Court Commissioner John Langan, and supervisors Brad Rasmussen and Bruno Sabatier were there, and retirees including former Chief Deputy District Attorney Rich HInchcliff, former Deputy County Counsel Bob Bridges, also came by.
“The good news is, I’m leaving. The bad news is, I’m taking Yolanda with me,” Blum told Terry Norton, who retired from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Corrections Division.
There was a great deal of praise for Blum, both as a judge and as a person, with all of those Lake County News spoke to wishing him a happy retirement but being sad at seeing him go.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Ed Borg said he has enormous respect for Blum, who he called both an excellent judge and a stellar human being. Blum’s retirement is “a huge loss for the criminal justice system in Lake County because he’s an excellent judge.”
Borg said Blum is fair, treats people well, follows the law and works hard. When he rules against someone, he tells them why which, from a practical standpoint, is helpful.
Marion Titus, a deputy district attorney, wished Blum nothing but the best, crediting him and his fellow judges for being among the reasons she chose to move to Lake County due to their fairness. She said she hopes Blum’s successor has the same mindset.
“It has been an honor to work in his courtroom,” said Krones, who added that she appreciated Blum’s sense of humor and work ethic. “I just think the world of him.”
She is sad to see him retire, but hopes he will enjoy his retirement and the travel he wants to do.
Across the room, Blum and Bridges reminisced about their early days in Lake County Superior Court, when there was just one judge — John Golden, whose portrait was among the seven on the wall staring down on the assembly. Blum’s own portrait will join that collection in the near future.
Bridges recalled Golden’s nickname — “Jammin’ John” — because of his speed and efficiency in running the court.
Bridges believes Golden influenced the quality of the current bench of superior court judges.
“That’s a fair statement,” said Blum.
During the interview in his office with Lake County News weeks before his final days on the bench, Blum was asked what people should know about his profession.
He replied that, despite what they may hear in the public or media, “The system’s really geared towards being fair and letting everyone have a chance to be heard.”
That extends from the jurors — who over the years have impressed Blum with the time and attention they dedicate to their service — to the rest of the people who work in the system.
He was also asked about the encouragement Judge Mann had offered him before he took the bench 15 years ago, telling him that he was going to love the job of judge.
Was Mann right?
“For the most part, it’s true,” Blum said. “Overall, I have enjoyed being a judge. I've tried to be the best judge I could be, to be fair to all sides. There are moments when I would say I did not love it.”
However, he added, “I wouldn’t have done it this long if I hadn’t loved it.”
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