Troy Slaten

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Troy Slaten

Nonpartisan

Elections and appointments

Last election

June 7, 2022

Education

Bachelor's

University of California, Los Angeles, 2000

Law

Pepperdine University School of Law, 2004

Personal

Birthplace

Los Angeles, Calif.

Profession

Attorney

Contact

Campaign website

Troy Slaten ran for election for judge of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County in California. He lost in the primary on June 7, 2022.

Biography

Troy Slaten was born in Los Angeles, California. He received a bachelor's degree in English literature from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2000 and a J.D. from Pepperdine University School of Law in 2004.

Slaten's professional experience includes being a managing attorney and partner at Floyd Skeren Manukian Langevin and serving the Los Angeles County Superior Court as a temporary judge. He has also given lectures and provided legal commentary for media outlets such as CNN, HLN, and Fox. He has been associated with the Pacific Lodge Youth Services and was admitted to practice law in every court in California, including the United States District Court for the Central District of California, and the District of Columbia.

Elections

2022

See also: Municipal elections in Los Angeles County, California (2022)

General election

General election for Superior Court of Los Angeles County

Abby Baron defeated Anna Slotky Reitano in the general election for Superior Court of Los Angeles County on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Abby Baron (Nonpartisan)	55.3	1,026,777
		Anna Slotky Reitano (Nonpartisan)	44.7	829,766

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,856,543
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Superior Court of Los Angeles County

Abby Baron and Anna Slotky Reitano defeated Sharon Ransom, Troy Slaten, and Mark Rosenfeld in the primary for Superior Court of Los Angeles County on June 7, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Abby Baron (Nonpartisan)	30.3	387,025
✔		Anna Slotky Reitano (Nonpartisan)	28.1	359,512
		Sharon Ransom (Nonpartisan)	22.1	282,196
		Troy Slaten (Nonpartisan)	10.0	128,024
	Submit photo	Mark Rosenfeld (Nonpartisan)	9.4	120,711

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,277,468
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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2020

See also: Municipal elections in Los Angeles County, California (2020)

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Superior Court of Los Angeles County

Adan Montalban won election outright against Troy Slaten in the primary for Superior Court of Los Angeles County on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Adan Montalban (Nonpartisan)	63.1	960,425
		Troy Slaten (Nonpartisan)	36.9	560,650

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 1,521,075
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Troy Slaten did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

Video for Ballotpedia

Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released February 1, 2020

Troy Slaten completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Slaten's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Being a Judge requires the appropriate personality, temperament, and experience to benefit both The Court and those who come before it.

Collaborative Courts (drug court, veteran's court, mental health court, homeless court) can be so impactful and helpful. I know what works and what needs improvement. I will be a champion for these collaborative efforts. I believe rehabilitation and treatment should be our goal rather than incarceration of those who need treatment and social services.

We need to end the school to prison pipeline.

I want to ensure access to justice for all people who find themselves in need of Court services regardless of their ability to pay. Money should never be a barrier to justice.

I have served as a Temporary Judge for the Los Angeles County Superior Court over the last few years. It has been one of the greatest honors of my life to serve the public in the capacity of Temporary Judge and it would be a tremendous honor to continue serving The People of the County of Los Angeles as a Superior Court Judge.

I am confident that I can serve The Court competently and diligently in a variety of capacities whether it be in criminal, civil, traffic, small claims, civil harassment, domestic violence, unlawful detainers and other assignments.

I have a broad and diverse legal background that will prove to be a strong asset to The Court. I can tackle any legal challenge. I'm a true problem solver!

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• INTEGRITY. HONESTY. EXPERIENCE
• Collaborative Courts that seek treatment and rehabilitation over incarceration.
• Restorative justice, ending the school to prison pipeline.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Criminal Justice Reform:

Like many others, Troy is deeply concerned about the ever expanding prison population that has dramatically increased twelve-fold since 1980. The United States has the highest incarceration rate and largest prison population in the world.
Troy believes we can do better by ensuring public safety as well as protecting our justice system and individual liberties. The right balance can be struck and Judges can play an integral role in this challenge.

Women's Re-Entry Court:
Troy supports the Women's Re-Entry Court which is an alternative sentencing program designed to provide evidence-based, gender-responsive, trauma informed, and culturally competent treatment services to women. This includes those with children, who are charged with felonies and facing imminent incarceration and/or prison.
Women's Re-Entry Court can break the cycle of substance abuse and crime to positively impact the children of female offenders who are at high risk of continuing intergenerational patterns of drug abuse, criminal behavior, and neglectful parenting.

Collaborative Courts:
Troy strongly supports Collaborative Courts designed to provide treatment instead of incarceration to the most vulnerable populations in the criminal justice system.

People suffering from mental illness and substance use disorders, veterans, victims of sex trafficking, and at-risk transitional age youths need to be treated using a multi-disciplinary approach instead of just being housed.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

During my 15-year career as an attorney, I have amassed diverse legal experience from criminal, civil, and litigation to administrative, business transaction, employment, worker's comp and general business cases.

I currently represent over 170 victims of the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting at the Rt 91 Festival (which garnered the third largest settlement in United States history) and as a political pundit he's made over 500 television appearances on networks including CNN, HLN and Fox News as well as regularly appearing as a legal analyst and "voice of reason" on Nancy Grace and Dr. Drew Pinsky.

I have served as a Temporary Judge for the Los Angeles Superior Court over the last few years and it has been one of the greatest honors of my life to serve the public in the capacity of Temporary Judge. It would be a tremendous honor to continue serving the People of the County of Los Angeles as a Superior Court Judge.

I have received many endorsements from Judges, Unions, Firefighters and Law Enforcement, and many elected officials from all political stripes.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

At its core, the judicial function is fairness and integrity. However, judges have many other duties and responsibilities.

I want to ensure access to justice for all people who find themselves in need of Court services regardless of their ability to pay. Money should never be a barrier to justice.

Since my first day stepping into a courtroom as a certified law clerk for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, I knew that one day I would be a bench officer. I understand, keenly, the power of The Court and the importance of resolving disputes in a fair, impartial, speedy, and final manner.

I have served as a Temporary Judge for the Los Angeles County Superior Court over the last several years. It has been one of the greatest honors of my life to serve the public in the capacity of temporary judge and it would be a tremendous honor to continue serving our community in the County of Los Angeles as a Superior Court Judge.

I am confident that I can serve The Court competently and diligently in a variety of capacities whether it be in criminal, civil, traffic, small claims, civil harassment, domestic violence, unlawful detainers and other assignments.

I have a broad and diverse legal background that will prove to be a strong asset to The Court. I can tackle any legal challenge. I'm a true problem solver. I believe most would agree that I'm a fun person to have around. I'm a team player, good-humored, and dead serious when needed. I bring people together.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Served on the Board of Directors for Pacific Lodge Youth Services. While serving on this board, Troy helped oversee the operation where nearly 80 school-aged and at-risk boys, most of whom were referrals from the County Department of Probation, were provided residential treatment and education.

Has appeared on TV and in print hundreds of times, providing expert on-air legal commentary and analysis covering all sorts of legal topics on major media outlets including CNN, HLN, CBS News and Fox News.

Member of SAG/AFTRA (AFL-CIO) since 1981.

Childhood Actor - Television and Film (regular roles on "Parker Lewis Can't Lose" "Cagney & Lacey" to name a few). Troy continued acting through UCLA undergraduate career until law school at Pepperdine.

Are there any little-known powers or responsibilities held by this office that you believe more people should be aware of?

I believe we can do better by ensuring public safety as well as protecting our justice system and individual liberties. The right balance can be struck and Judges can play an integral role in this challenge.

Being a Judge requires the appropriate personality, temperament, and experience to benefit both The Court and those who come before it. Collaborative Courts (drug court, veteran's court, mental health court, homeless court) can be so impactful and helpful. I know what works and what needs improvement. I will be a champion for these collaborative efforts.

I believe rehabilitation and treatment should be our goal rather than incarceration of those who need treatment and social services. We need to end the school to prison pipeline.

Do you believe that empathy is an important quality for a judge?

Empathy is different than sympathy. Sympathy is feeling bad for someone. Empathy, for a judge, is understanding the basis of the argument or where that person is coming from. I agree with author Thomas Colby who argues that, rather than being undermined by empathy, a judicial system in fact cannot properly function without it. Empathy is essential in an adversary system, where each side is given an opportunity to present its best legal and factual arguments, and the judge is charged with selecting the better of those arguments. For that opportunity to be meaningful, the judge must be truly capable of hearing, listening to, and understanding the legal and factual arguments that each party presents. That empathy is many-sided. A judge should hear and understand the feelings, experiences, and needs of all parties, not just one. Empathy, Colby insists, is the "capacity to understand the perspective and feel the emotions of others-all others."

Have you ever been rated by a Bar Association? If so, what was the rating?

I have been rated as "Qualified" by the Los Angeles County Bar Association because, after an exhaustive evaluation and background check, including 75 references, they believe I have the professional ability, experience, competence, integrity, and temperament indicative of fitness to perform the judicial function satisfactorily.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

2022 Elections

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External links

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Candidate

Superior Court of Los Angeles County

Website

Footnotes

California courts

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Federal courts:

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Central District of California, Eastern District of California, Northern District of California, Southern District of California • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Central District of California, Eastern District of California, Northern District of California, Southern District of California

State courts:

California Supreme Court • California Courts of Appeal • California Superior Courts

State resources:

Courts in California • California judicial elections • Judicial selection in California