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Dean Pregerson

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Dean Pregerson
Image of Dean Pregerson
United States District Court for the Central District of California (senior status)
Tenure

2016 - Present

Years in position

9

Prior offices
United States District Court for the Central District of California

Education

Bachelor's

University of California, Los Angeles, 1972

Law

University of California, Davis, 1976

Personal
Birthplace
Los Angeles, Calif.
Contact


Dean Pregerson is a federal judge on senior status for the United States District Court for the Central District of California. He joined the court in 1996 after being nominated by President Bill Clinton.[1]

John Holcomb was nominated by President Donald Trump (R) to succeed Pregerson on the Central District of California. Holcomb was confirmed in 2020.

Education

Pregerson received his undergraduate degree from the University of California-Los Angeles in 1972 and his J.D. from the University of California-Davis King Hall School of Law in 1976.[1]

Professional career

Pregerson began his legal career as a parole hearing officer for the California Department of Corrections in 1977. He then entered private practice, licensed in the State of California in 1978. He worked again as a private practice lawyer in California from 1982 to 1985 and from 1986 to 1996. Pregerson briefly was licensed in Guam in 1982. Pregerson also served as an assistant public defender of the Public Defender Service Corporation of Guam from 1978 to 1981 and also served as vice president and general counsel of The Torrance Company in 1985.[1]

Judicial career

Central District of California

On the recommendation of U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, Pregerson was nominated by President Bill Clinton on January 26, 1996, to a seat vacated by Wallace Tashima as Tashima was nominated to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Pregerson was confirmed by the United States Senate on July 24, 1996, on a majority voice vote. He received his commission on August 1, 1996, and assumed senior status on January 28, 2016.[2][1]

John Holcomb was nominated by President Donald Trump (R) to succeed Pregerson on the Central District of California. Holcomb was confirmed in 2020.

Noteworthy cases

Withheld medical treatment for detainee (2008)

See also: United States District Court for the Central District of California (Castaneda v. The United States of America California et al, 2:07-cv-07241-DDP-JC)

Judge Dean Pregerson of the United States District Court for the Central District of California ruled that immigration officials' decision to withhold medical treatment from a detainee was "beyond cruel and unusual". The detainee, Francisco Castaneda, died of penile cancer on February 16, 2008.

According to the suit, the government denied the detainee treatment for eleven months, refusing to authorize a biopsy for a growing lesion despite the urging of numerous medical professionals. Instead, the government gave Castaneda antihistamines, ibuprofen, and extra boxer shorts. The judge characterized the treatment in his ruling as "nothing".

"Pregerson blasted public health officials' 'attempt to sidestep responsibility for what appears to be . . . one of the most, if not the most, egregious' violations of the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment that 'the court has ever encountered'."[3]

See also

External links

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by:
Wallace Tashima
Central District of California
1996–Current
Succeeded by:
John Holcomb