‘Universally respected and fair’ in Sacramento: Retired judge Peter Mering dies at 89
Before retiring, Judge Peter Mering was a beloved citizen-jurist who moved from private practice and the public defenders’ ranks to serve for more than two decades in Sacramento County’s municipal, superior and juvenile courts.
Mering died Dec. 13, 2019, after a brief illness. He was 89.
Friends on the Sacramento Superior Court bench remembered Mering as a judicial Everyman, even-handed, fair – and universally respected.
“He loved being a judge. It’s how he defined himself – as a judge. Why he was remarkable was that the judge was a common man who behaved as a common man on the bench. His persona did not change because he was on the bench,” Sacramento Superior Court past Presiding Judge David DeAlba said last month upon Mering’s passing. “He treated everybody with dignity and respect. He saw everybody the same, as his equal. He was universally respected because he was fundamentally a fair man.”
A lifelong Sacramento resident, Peter Needham Mering was born Nov. 20, 1930, in Sacramento, into a prominent family of attorneys and community advocates. Mering’s mother, Helen Mering, was a director of Sacramento Children’s Home and helped spearhead the creation of Fairytale Town in the city’s Land Park neighborhood; and his father, Sumner Mering, served on the City Council.
Mering’s life was dedicated to the law. He earned his degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and admitted to the California State Bar in 1959 before joining his brother, Phil, in private practice.
A graduate of Sacramento High School, Mering was also a standout athlete. As a Cal offensive lineman, Mering was one of legendary college coach Lynn “Pappy” Waldorf’s “Pappy’s Boys” who lost to Michigan in the 1951 Rose Bowl.
But it was in the courtroom where Mering made his mark. He left civil practice for the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office, where he was a deputy prosecutor. Mering would soon move to the Sacramento County Public Defender’s Office, where he served 13 years as the county’s assistant public defender.
“He came from the public defenders’ community. He had a lot of admiration from defense lawyers,” DeAlba said. “There has been a universal amount of sympathy and loss. The defense bar is one that has expressed it the most.”
In 1977, Jerry Brown, in his first stint as California governor, appointed Mering to the Sacramento County Municipal Court bench.
It was on the municipal bench where Mering presided over the 1981 preliminary hearing of one of the region’s most notorious cases: husband-and-wife serial killers Gerald and Charlene Gallego, whose gruesome two-year crime spree terrorized Sacramento.
He would become a Sacramento County Superior Court judge in 1981, sitting on the bench until his retirement in 1999. He took on temporary judicial assignments in Sacramento for the next 15 years.
Mering also was presiding judge of Sacramento County Juvenile Court in 1989-90.
Sacramento Superior Court CEO and retired Sacramento Superior Court Judge Lloyd Connelly was a close friend of Mering.
“I had great affection for the man. He was a good, decent man, as well as an extraordinarily fine judge.” Connelly said. “I can’t think of another judge who quite fits that mold. It’s a loss for the court. The closer to the courthouse you get, the more affection people had for him – the clerks, the bailiffs.”
“People looked up to him as a judge,” Mering’s son, Andrew Mering, recalled. “He made choices as a dad – he would miss a sporting event or a function – but you never regretted it. As a person, he was a friend to people. He was a happy person. There were a lot of things that made up Pete, but what defines him is his patience, his tolerance, appreciating everything that makes others special. He believed every person deserved a certain happiness.”
That extended into Mering’s life away from the bench. He was active in Sacramento Big Brothers, Planned Parenthood Sacramento and the YMCA. His wife of 52 years, Georgia, was a longtime director of development for the Sacramento AIDS Foundation.
Mering was thoughtful, spoke slowly and chose his words carefully. Connelly said those traits led some attorneys to mistakenly assume Mering was not a rigorous thinker. Mering quickly changed that perception.
“They realized he was elegant, articulate; his facts were clearly cited. The clerks here loved him. He was patient with everybody,” Connelly said. “He frequently made himself available to younger people. You could seek his counsel. You’d say, ‘There’s a master right down the hall and around the corner.’”
A favorite story of Connelly’s: Mering was shopping for a car for a family member on a local sales lot. A salesman asked his name and what he did for a living.
“I’m a judge,” Mering said. The salesman stopped him.
“One of the people here says he’s a friend of yours,” the salesman said and called the person over.
The man walked out to meet Mering.
“You sent me to prison twice,” the man said.
Mering treated him so well in court, the man explained, that he considered the judge a friend. He said to Mering, “I tell people we’re friends. Is that all right?”
“That’s a window into how he was perceived,” Connelly said. “That fellow, he was treated fairly and he called him his friend.
“He was a down-to-earth, remarkable, fair person. He was not a fancy dandy who became a judge. He comes from the era when people who were distinguished in private practice, they would accept the burden of being a judge. It was a responsibility. That’s who he was.”
Mering is survived by his wife, Georgia; children, Yolla, Steve, Helen and Andrew; seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
A celebration of Mering’s life and work is planned for 6 p.m. Jan. 30, at The Hellenic Center, 614 Alhambra Blvd., Sacramento.
The family asks those who wish to donate in Mering’s memory donate to: Fairytale Town, 3901 Land Park Drive, Sacramento, CA 95822, or on the park’s website donation page.
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