Candidate for
Superior Court Judge; County of Los Angeles; Office 95

Deputy District Attorney Marc Debbaudt is running for Judge of the Superior Court -- Office 95. Mr. Debbaudt has been an attorney for 20 years. He went to law school at night while working full time at Hanna-Barbera Productions in their warehouse. He graduated from Loyola Law School in 1983 and passed the bar the same year. He received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of California at Santa Barbera (UCSB), and graduated from Christian Brothers High School in Sacramento.

For the past two years, while assigned to the Hardcore Gang Division, his job was to prosecute documented gang members accused of murder. At the conclusion of a trial that occurred in November of 2003, Kami Towns,a defendant charged with murder in the course of a robbery and facing life without the possibility of parole, stated: "Mr. Debbaudt, you have the reputation of being the most feared prosecutor in county jail!" Mr. Towns was convicted.

Mr. Debbaudt is married to Alice Kannapell from Louisville, Kentucky. He has two children, Matt, age 15 and Nikki, age 12. He is registered independent because he doesn't know the difference between a liberal Republican and a conservative Democrat.

In 1986 he joined the Los Angeles County Public Defender's Office where he protected the Constitutional rights of the accused for several years. In 1989 he transferred to the Office of the District Attorney, where for the past 14 years he has been a dedicated and aggressive criminal prosecutor diligently representing the People of California and seeking justice. He is considered a tough, but fair prosecutor. He is respected and trusted by both his colleagues as well as opposing attorneys. Should he be elected, he would bring a wealth of experience to the bench.

During his career, he has specialized in prosecuting rapists and child molesters while assigned to the Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Division (SCCAD). Mr. Debbaudt also participated in training over 120 new deputy district attorneys.

For six years he was part of an innovative crime prevention program called A.C.T. (Abolish Chronic Truancy). As the Deputy-In-Charge of that program, he advocated student success through education. (Please read his position paper on the relationship between a failed education and crime which is posted on this website.) He considers the effort to return children to the classroom one of the most fulfilling of his career.