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Rick Distaso

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Rick Distaso
Judge of the Stanislaus County Superior Court
Assumed office
2005
Appointed byArnold Schwarzenegger
Preceded byWray F. Ladine[1]
Personal details
Born
Joseph Richard Distaso

(1967-01-25) January 25, 1967 (age 57)
Los Angeles County, California
Political partyRepublican[1]
EducationUniversity of Southern California (BA)[1]
Loyola Marymount University (JD)[1]
Military service
Branch/serviceUnited States Army
Years of service1992-Present
RankLieutenant Colonel
UnitArmy Judge Advocate General's Corps
75th Legal Operations Detachment

Joseph Richard "Rick" Distaso (born January 25, 1967, in Los Angeles County, California)[2] is an American lawyer and judge.

He was the Stanislaus County, California, senior deputy district attorney who served as the lead prosecutor in the case against Scott Peterson, charged with and later convicted of murdering his wife Laci Peterson and their unborn child Conner Peterson in 2002. Laci was eight months pregnant with Conner at the time of the murder.[3]

Distaso attended University of Southern California as an undergraduate, and attended Loyola Law School for his law education. He was admitted to the California State Bar in 1992.[4] After graduation from law school, he was a lawyer for the Judge Advocate General's Corps, United States Army through 1996, with the rank of captain, and then joined the Stanislaus County district attorney's office.[4]

In 2005, Distaso was appointed a Stanislaus County Superior Court judge by California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Distaso was deployed to Afghanistan for a tour in the Army Reserves. In 2008, he was deployed to Afghanistan where he served as a Lieutenant Colonel and Deputy Commander of the 75th Legal Operations Detachment in the U.S. Army Reserves JAG Corps.[5]

As of December 2019, he is a judge for the Army's 4th Judicial Circuit.[6]

References