SAN JOSE — Johnny Gogo, a veteran Santa Clara County prosecutor, has been named as the South Bay’s latest Superior Court judge in the latest round of judicial appointments by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Gogo, 51, of San Jose, has spent the past two decades as a trial attorney for the District Attorney’s Office or as the agency’s community prosecutor, spending six years heading efforts to reduce truancy and juvenile crime.
“The transition to the bench is an excellent opportunity to use those experiences and skills, and continue to serve the community,” Gogo said in an interview Monday. “I’m honored and grateful that Governor Newsom has faith in me to continue to serve the public.”
His appointment fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Hector Ramon. Gogo said he had been applying for a judgeship dating back to the end of former Gov. Jerry Brown’s term, and re-applied after Newsom took office.
Gogo initially joined the DA’s office in 1999 after working as a prosecutor in Guam, where his family comes from, and returned there in 2000 to join a private law firm. He made his way back to the Bay Area in 2001, was hired again in 2001, and has been there ever since.
He said he went to law school — Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego — with the aim of becoming a personal-injury attorney but changed his path after interning with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“That internship is what flipped the switch,” Gogo said. “It changed my mindset, working with some very intelligent, sharp and reasonable prosecutors.”
What especially struck him, he continued, was watching one of his mentors try a case against a federal agent charged with abusing a detainee.
“It showed me you prosecute people who violate the law, regardless of their job title,” Gogo said.
It took a while for Gogo to make his way to the Bay Area, as it was never part of his original career plan. Born at an Army hospital in Germany, Gogo and his family traveled the world for his father’s military career, which took them to Japan and Alaska and also their native Guam, as well as Kentucky and Barstow in the California desert. He landed in Santa Clara County, and eventually his current home in San Jose, with some serendipity as the Santa Clara County DA’s office was the first to offer him a job as a prosecutor.
After 14 years of trial work with the DA’s office, Gogo took on what would be his signature career role, and spent most of it outside of the courthouse. As a community prosecutor, he worked to combat truancy and juvenile crime, knowing from experience that the two issues often go hand in hand.
“That was a different mindset. It’s more of a social-worker position,” he said. “If we keep these kids out of the criminal-justice system as juveniles, they won’t get in as adults.”
Some of the most rewarding moments of his career, Gogo said, involved helping steer kids struggling with truancy and failing grades toward high school and college success.
“One my lasting memories is seeing them excited for futures in high school and after,” he said. “And helping these students realize the potential they have in them.”
Also in that role, Gogo was one of the most visible attorneys from the DA’s office, often sitting face-to-face with troubled teens and their parents, shepherding gun buyback drives and pushing cell-phone collections to help fund domestic-violence shelters and advocacy groups.
“Many people in the community only know the DA’s office through a cheerful, tireless, friendly man named Johnny Gogo,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said. “He has, over two decades, created a priceless legacy of trust with the community that we serve. We give him our thanks and wish him the best as he brings his smile, thoughtfulness and devotion to public service to the bench.”
