Six new Superior Court judges nominated by Gov. Phil Murphy now head to the full Senate for a confirmation vote after the Judiciary Committee unanimously approved them today.
Among the judicial nominees approved by the panel today is Russell “The Diamond” DePersia, the Gloucester County undersheriff and a former professional boxer, and Julie Kim, who was nominated thirteen months ago.
“Julie has been a role model and patience and perseverance,” said State Sen. Kristin Corrado (R-Totowa).
Also approved were former Madison Councilman Martin Barbato, Administrative Law Judge Susan Olgiati, Public Defender Janice Allen, and Deputy Attorney General Renard Scott.
Barbato is 67-years-old and will only be able to serve on the bench until March 7, 2026, when he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70.
Olgiati was named to fill one of the three vacant Superior Court judgeships in Cumberland County. A former chief of staff in the state attorney general’s Division of Law, Olgiati is the wife of lobbyist Rick Wright, the former executive director of the Assembly Republicans.
Allen, a 57-year-old Oakland resident is a trustee of the New Jersey State Bar Association.
DePersia is a criminal defense attorney and high school and college basketball star, and the author of a novel, Seasons Change, about a high school football star who suffers a traumatic head injury. His father, Robert, was the captain of detectives at the Camden County Prosecutor’s office. He helped write a 2013 state law on cyber-harassment.
Kim is a partner at Cohen Lifland, where she practiced family law. She was a law clerk to Superior Court Judge Harold Hollenbeck, a former congressman and state senator. She would become the first Korean American judge in Bergen County.
The Judiciary Committee also approved Deirdre Hartman-Zohlman, a hearing examiner for the state, as an administrative law judge.
