Two judges appointed to Tulare County bench

A current prosecutor and a former prosecutor were appointed Wednesday to judgeships on the Tulare County Superior Court by Gov. Jerry Brown.

Anthony Fultz, 51, of Visalia, has been an assistant district attorney at the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office since 2006, where he has served since 1993. He was a sole practitioner at the Law Office of Anthony Fultz from 2005 to 2006.

Fultz earned his juris doctor degree from Santa Clara University School of Law and has a bachelor of science degree from Santa Clara University.

He fills the seat held by the late Judge Paul A. Vortmann. Fultz is a Democrat.

Tara Howard, 47, of Visalia, has been a sole practitioner at Tara K. Howard Attorney at Law since 2003. She served as a deputy district attorney at the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office from 1996 to 2003 and was an associate at the Law Offices of Rasmussen, Howard and Libbey from 1994 to 1996.

Howard earned her juris doctor degree from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law and has a bachelor of arts degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

She fills the vacancy created by the conversion of a court commissioner position to a judge position on June 15. Howard is a Democrat.

The annual compensation for each position is $189,041.

This story was originally published December 23, 2015 at 6:20 PM with the headline "Two judges appointed to Tulare County bench."