The Hon. Rosendo Peña, Jr. is a justice for the California Fifth District Court of Appeal. He was appointed to the bench by former Governor Jerry Brown in 2012, becoming the first Latino to preside on the bench. He filled the vacancy created by the retirement of the Hon. Betty L. Dawson.
Prior to his appointment, Peña sat as a judge for the Fresno County Superior Court, a position to which he was appointed by former Governor Gray Davis in 2002.
Peña earned a B.A. in political science from California State University, Fresno in 1977. He then completed a J.D. at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law in 1980.
After graduating from law school, Peña began his legal career as a deputy state public defender for the Office of the State Public Defender in Los Angeles. He served in that capacity until 1983, at which time he became the lead attorney for the California Fifth District Court of Appeal.
In 1990, Peña left his post as lead attorney and joined the Office of the California Attorney General as a deputy attorney general. He then entered into private practice two years later, working as an associate at the Hernandez & Ramirez Law Offices before returning to the California Fifth District Court of Appeal in 1994.
His memberships have included the California Latino Judges Association, the Madera County Bar Association, the Fresno County Bar Association, the Fresno County La Raza Lawyers Association, and the Latin American Business Club. He also sat on the Fresno Unified School District Graduation Task Force, the Board of Trustees of the Fresno County Law Library, and the Board of Central California Legal Services, Inc.
Peña was born and raised in Parlier. In 1973, he was among the 200 arrested and jailed near a nectarine orchard outside Selma. He spent ten days in jail as part of an effort to help César E. Chávez and the United Farm Workers set the legal groundwork for the right to picket near agricultural fields.
He is registered as a Democrat.