Candidate for
District Attorney; County of Santa Barbara

About Joshua Lynn I am Joshua Lynn a career prosecutor and I am running for Santa Barbara County District Attorney.

I am a Santa Barbara native as is my wife of 16 years, Diane.

We have lived here all our lives other than college and law school.

I graduated from Santa Barbara High School, University of California at Santa Cruz and University of San Diego Law School

I have been a deputy district attorney for 14 years and am the Chief Trial Deputy for South Santa Barbara County. I have had experience serving as your District Attorney when the elected District Attorney was unable to serve for an extended period of time. I currently supervise criminal operations, all prosecutions and all of the deputy district attorneys in the South County of Santa Barbara. In addition to assigning all cases, I take many complex, often multi-defendant gang and murder cases to jury trial.

This County needs a tough prosecutor who understands priorities, can effectively lead this office and county law enforcement in tough economic times and will set a proper agenda to protect the citizens of this great part of our state. As the Chief Trial Deputy I have been directly involved in all facets of what the District Attorney does in this county. I was directly involved in the Herculean fight to save deputies from layoff in this office through this budget cycle, and to prevent the District Attorney's Office from being viewed as just another "county department". Public safety is my number one priority and the District Attorney's Office is an integral part of that effort in this county. The mission of the District Attorney's Office, like the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office and the County Fire Department, go to the core function of local government + protection of the public. My past actions have helped to ensure the well-being of the District Attorney's Office and, thus, the well-being of citizens all around this great county.

As your District Attorney, I will insist that integrity and ethics flow from the top-down in this office as has been the model under which I have prosecuted gang murder, vehicular manslaughter, domestic violence, drug conspiracy, rape, robbery, arson and virtually every other kind of crime committed in the county with honesty and with great results. We must as a community prioritize our resources. False promises or grand predictions of wide financial expansion of unavailable resources would be both disingenuous and unproductive. The citizens of this community have been taxed both financially and mentally from the increase in gang violence, theft and violent crime. You deserve more than promises, you deserve reasoned action.

I have fought and won some of the toughest and most complex cases in this county. I have done so using ethics not games, telling juries the truth and getting results. Despite a near-perfect trial record, the greatest accomplishments in my career come from working with victims and families of victims traumatized by violent crime in this community in an effort to steward them through the court process with compassion and honesty.

A native to Santa Barbara I am raising my two young children here. I know now more than ever that protecting the ability of the citizens of this community to go about their lives free from worries about gangs, drugs, theft and violent crime is the core function of government and particularly the District Attorney's Office. I have outstanding relationships with all law enforcement agencies in our area and, in particular, the line deputies and officers in our community + the crime fighters on the street and in your neighborhoods whose tremendous efforts and sacrifice keep us all safe and make my job possible.

Because of my wide-range of experience I have been a Law Professor teaching Evidence, Advanced Evidence and, most recently Trial Practice at the Santa Barbara College of Law. All of my experience has also garnered me broad support; from line level law enforcement to one of the most prominent drug and alcohol program directors in the county and, importantly, to the elected District Attorneys who led the office for the last 25 plus years. I am tough, fair and utterly dedicated to the mission of the District Attorney's Office and its important place in this county-wide community.

As your next District Attorney I pledge honesty, integrity and ethics will be the starting and ending point for all we do in this office. My record proves it, my endorsements support it and this community needs a proven prosecutor and experienced administrator in this vital role