Candidate for
Superior Court Judge; County of Los Angeles; Office 53

I believe my background and experience make me uniquely qualified to serve as a judicial officer. I am a graduate of the University of California, Riverside, and the University of San Diego, School of Law. I have been an attorney for eighteen years and fortunate to have had the opportunity to work both as a defense lawyer for the first part of my career, and as a prosecutor during the past fourteen years.

As a Los Angeles County Public Defender from 1986 to 1989, I handled all aspects of criminal defense and conducted approximately 40 to 60 jury trials. As a Deputy District Attorney for the past fourteen years, I have worked in a variety of settings and have conducted approximately 100 jury trials (most involving serious and or violent felonies)with a 100% conviction rate on all Felonies. I have been assigned to key specialized prosecution units, including the Sex Crimes Unit in Norwalk, specializing in Adult and Child Assault and Molestations; worked with the Auto Insurance Fraud Division, specializing in major fraud perpetrated by doctors, lawyers, and other white-collar offenders; and was responsible for implementing the voter-approved Proposition 36, in the Pasadena Superior Court, for minor, non-violent drug offenders.

Although punishment is an important deterrent to crime, I am a firm believer in education, early intervention, and diversion strategies. For six years, I was assigned to the Abolish Chronic Truancy Program (A.C.T.), an innovative crime prevention program that gained national and international attention in shifting the focus from prosecution and incarceration toward parental education and responsibility in reducing school truancy. A failed school experience is the major precursor to crime.