After years of working in the Kern County D.A.’s Office, Zulfa decided to throw his hat in the ring to serve on the Kern County Superior Court bench. After applying to the Governor’s Office and having his name in consideration for about five years, however, he began to think it was never going to happen.
“I had a very deep and long conversation with my wife about whether I was going to continue to pursue the bench, and we had decided that I was going to withdraw my name from consideration after the holidays. We had come to peace with it,” Zulfa said.
Then two days later, in December 2014, he got a call from the Governor’s Office. Rather than picking up the phone, he let it go to voicemail, assuming that they were calling to ask him about other candidates, which they had done in the past.
When he checked his voicemail, however, Zulfa realized this call was something different.
“I called and they gave me the news that Governor Brown had chosen me to fill Judge Louis Etcheverry’s seat on the bench,” he said. “I was grateful for not only the appointment, but to fill judge Etcheverry’s seat as well. It has meant the world to me. I had great respect for that man. Then I went and told my wife, and I’ve never looked back.”
When Mike Zulfa learned about the appointment, he felt it was a well-earned honor that acknowledged his brother’s contributions to the justice system in Kern County.
“It means that you're a really good attorney, and it means that you bring more to the table than just being a really good attorney,” he said. “When you're a prosecutor, you’re in the game. You're playing offense and defense, and now you're much more the umpire. You're trying to make sure that the things that happen within the courtroom are within the rules, so it's a huge shift.”
Zulfa has taken that responsibility seriously. He understands that his decisions significantly impact the lives of those who come before him.
“Every time that I'm asked to impose a sentence on somebody, I never lose the perspective that I am impacting someone's liberty,” he said. “You should always be mindful that your decisions as a judge have a great impact not only on that defendant but on the victims, upon the attorneys that have been involved and even the jurors that rendered that verdict and have followed the case through sentencing. If I ever lose sight of that, I think I'll need to determine whether it's time to move on.”
Zulfa said he strives to make sure that regardless of what his ruling is, defendants feel that they have had the opportunity to be heard and that they were treated fairly.
“When I first became a judge, somebody said to me, ‘never forget that you may be the only time somebody interacts with the justice system,’ and that’s the case for a lot of the people who appear in front of me,” he said. “I want them to feel like the justice system knows them, notices them and hears them. I try to respect everybody and ask for their respect in return. I think that if you do that — if you listen to people and you respect people — they will listen and respect you in return.”
Zulfa’s longtime friend Michael Bowers said that focus on fairness and respect has always been key to who Zulfa is.
“Two things that he has is the wisdom to listen and the courage to lead,” he said. “He does everything with grace and class. That's been one of the strengths that I've been able to glean from him — that humility and grace, which is so important.”
Mike Zulfa said his brother has been able to gain trust as a judge because of those qualities and his ability to quickly develop relationships with people.
“He's such a natural at making people feel like they have his attention, that he is focused on them and that they are the priority, even when he is juggling several cases. I think that helped him become a better prosecutor, and it helps him be a better judge,” he said.