Sacramento, California - Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the appointment of Judge Thomas M. Goethals as associate justice, Division Three of the Fourth District Court of Appeal and Judge Mary J. Greenwood as associate justice of the Sixth District Court of Appeal.

Fourth District Court of Appeal

Thomas M. Goethals, 65, of Newport Beach, has been appointed associate justice, Division Three of the Fourth District Court of Appeal. Goethals has served as a judge at the Orange County Superior Court since 2003. He was a partner at Pohlson, Moorhead and Goethals from 1990 to 2002. Goethals served as a deputy district attorney at the Orange County District Attorney’s Office from 1985 to 1990 and from 1978 to 1984. He was an associate at Robinson and Robinson in 1984. Goethals earned a Juris Doctor degree from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Santa Clara University. He fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice William F. Rylaarsdam. This position requires confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments. The Commission consists of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Senior Presiding Justice Manuel A. Ramirez. Goethals is a Democrat.

Sixth District Court of Appeal

Mary J. Greenwood, 60, of Menlo Park, has been appointed associate justice of the Sixth District Court of Appeal. Greenwood has served as a judge at the Santa Clara County Superior Court since 2012. She served as public defender of Santa Clara County from 2005 to 2012 and was an assistant public defender and supervising attorney in the Santa Clara County Alternate Defender’s Office from 2002 to 2005. Greenwood was an attorney at Coblentz, Patch, Duffy and Bass LLP in 2001 and an associate at the Boccardo Law Firm in 1997. She served as an assistant public defender at the Santa Clara County Public Defender’s Office from 1994 to 2001, where she was a deputy public defender from 1982 to 1994. Greenwood earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Grinnell College. She fills the vacancy created by the resignation of Justice Miguel Marquez. This position requires confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments. The Commission consists of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Senior Presiding Justice Franklin D. Elia. Greenwood is a Democrat. 

The compensation for each of these positions is $228,918.