SACRAMENTO, CALIF. — Court is now in session under Helena Gweon. And presiding over her own courtroom has been “very positive” and “compelling” for this new judge, ever since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed her to the Superior Court in late September.

“I like the job even more than I expected,” said Gweon, who uses her knowledge and judgment to make legal rulings for Sacramento County.

But if it wasn’t for some indecision in her past, she might not be sitting on the bench now. Gweon was considering going to graduate school to study literature after getting her bachelor’s degree in English at the University of California, Berkeley. “But since I lacked certainty, my mom was able to persuade me to try out law school,” said Gweon. “I didn’t plan on going to law school.”

She ended up, however, at one of the best: Harvard Law School. But after that, “I avoided the law for a while,” instead working as a consultant.

When she landed a job with the Sacramento County District Attorney’s office, however, she said she had found her calling. “I liked fighting for justice, the fast pace and the strategic aspect of trial work,” Gweon said. There she specialized in the prosecution of child abuse and sexual assault crimes, eventually becoming the lead attorney in the domestic violence unit.

The judge with her family: husband John DeCaire and son Duncan.

“Everyone hates injustice, but some people hate it more or have a greater reaction to it,” she said. “I’m one of those people who had a strong reaction to instances of injustice. That’s not necessarily good because I don’t want to be self-righteous, but that sense of pursuing justice was an attractive notion.”

Gweon recalled one particular rape victim for whom it was incredibly difficult to trust the system and law enforcement: a drug-addicted prostitute who was brutally assaulted by a client. But Gweon gained her trust and helped to turn her life around. Then there was the paraplegic lesbian who was raped in some bushes. Gweon was the prosecutor who got the man convicted. “The amazing thing about these people is that they’re so scared, but despite that fear that overcomes them, they go through the process — and most of the time it works,” she said. 

Now the 39-year-old wife and mother of one is “grateful to the governor … and honored and thrilled to serve the community in this new capacity.” Gweon, who lived in Seoul for the first eight years of her life, also credited her father for her development. “He had the complete faith of an immigrant in the American Dream — that anything was possible in this country. … He brainwashed me into believing that I could do anything I wanted, be anything I wanted, if I just tried hard enough,” said Gweon.

Through her new position, this fan of author Fyodor Dostoevsky and art enthusiast hopes to bring one particular goal to fruition: instilling a sense of trust in the system, especially for immigrants who bring with them from their homeland skepticism toward government systems.