Career

Early Career
I graduated from California State University, Hayward in 1977 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. I attended Golden Gate University School of Law was awarded a Doctorate on Jurisprudence in 1983.

After passing the California State Bar exam, I was sworn in as a licensed attorney on December 1, 1983. I worked for a private real estate and criminal defense law firm before joining the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office in September of 1984. I have spent virtually my entire legal career in this office and proudly serve as your District Attorney.

Alameda County District Attorney’s Office
During my career with the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, I have tried over 60 cases to jury verdict with a felony conviction rate of 98%. Included in those convictions were several complex sexual assault cases, many involving multiple victims, most notably a case in 1998 that involved a sex offender who kidnapped and raped a Cal Berkeley student. In that case, the defendant was sentenced to the longest prison term in California history for a sexual assault: 6 life terms without the possibility of parole.

In 2009, I tried to verdict the case involving Christopher Rodriguez, an Oakland boy who - while taking piano lessons – was shot and paralyzed by a defendant who was robbing a gas station across the street. That same defendant was also found guilty of several carjackings in Oakland, including the carjacking of then-Senator Don Perata. The defendant was found guilty on all counts and received a sentence of 70 years to Life in prison.

As a Deputy District Attorney, I worked in many different assignments in the District Attorney’s Office. I began my career working on misdemeanor jury trials and have worked in offices throughout the County of Alameda. I have a 98% conviction rate in misdemeanor trials and completed hundreds of felony preliminary hearings in areas including narcotics cases, sexual assault, elder abuse, domestic abuse and homicide.

While assigned to the Rene C. Davidson Superior Courthouse in Oakland, I worked on the felony narcotic team, felony trial team, sexual assault unit, and the domestic violence/elder abuse unit. In April 1993, I was assigned as the first woman to be head of the Felony Team in Oakland’s Wiley Manual Courthouse, then promoted to Senior Deputy District Attorney in 1994 by DA Jack Meehan.

Chief Assistant District Attorney
In 1999, I was promoted to Chief Assistant by District Attorney Thomas J. Orloff. As Chief Assistant, I was responsible for the supervision of 300-400 employees, recruitment, compliance with state policies, the preparation of the yearly budget, grant writing, and representing the office before the California State Legislature. Additionally, I was responsible for reimbursement programs that have yielded over $100,000 for the DA’s Office in the areas of HIV testing of inmates and obtaining hundreds of thousands of dollars in state reimbursement for other mandatory services under SB90.

One of the most effective programs I designed and implemented, and for which I also secured funding, is the Alameda County Family Justice Center (ACFJC Website). The ACFJC allows for diverse but allied professionals in one location to provide a comprehensive response to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and exploitation, and to victims of child and elder abuse. In addition to the ACFJC being recognized as superior example of solid public-private non-profit collaboration, the ACFJC has been selected by Blue Shield Foundation to serve as the Northern California Training Center and as a model for other communities wishing to create their own family justice centers.

The First Female District Attorney
Following DA Thomas J. Orloff's retirement in September 2009, I was appointed District Attorney by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. As the first female DA in the history of the Office, I am especially proud and honored. I will continue my work in the Office with strength and commitment and will strive to make the Alameda County District Attorney's Office an outstanding leader in the field of law and justice.

Career Highlights - Specialized Units

I have been involved in the creation and expansion of several units within the District Attorney’s Office including specialized units in Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence, Identity Theft, Gangs, Elder Abuse, Human Trafficking and Exploitation, Truancy, Restitution, Parole Advocacy, Forensic Scanning and Computer Forensics. These units were created to better serve victims and meet their needs while dealing with some of the most vicious crimes, while allowing prosecutors to develop an expertise in a particular area to further educe the trauma to victims of those crimes and to better serve the community.

Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Units
In addition to my duties as a Deputy District Attorney, during my career I also handled personnel management, supervised deputy DAs, represented the office in Sacramento on issues involving legislation, and designed, created, and wrote the funding grant for the Alameda County DA’s Office Domestic Violence Unit. I am especially proud of the work I did in creating the first Alameda County Sexual Assault Response Team (SART), a collaborative effort between law enforcement, medical personnel, community leaders and non profit organizations to implement a better response to sexual assault cases. With the success of this SART program, several other SARTs were created throughout Alameda County’s Tri-Valley area and we soon became the model that other communities followed.

In 1996, I created the Sexual Assault Unit of the District Attorney’s Office, which included developing policy, grant writing, supervising personnel, convening monthly county-wide meetings in the areas of sexual assault, and managing sexual assault cases and sex offender registrants throughout Alameda County.

Truancy Unit
The Alameda County DA’s Office Truancy Unit is partially funded by a Federal grant I wrote under the Safe Neighborhoods Initiative. The grant advocated that a way to reduce youth violence, particularly gun violence, was to keep kids in school. The Truancy Unit is now in its 7th year of successful operation and last year, the Oakland Unified School District, in partnership with effort by the Truancy Unit, reported a 30% decline in truancy: a fantastic effort.

Restitution Unit
The Restitution Unit was created in 2002 as a result of an encounter I had with a senior citizen whose home was burgled in Castro Valley and found to be a total loss. He called to complain that he had gone to court and then watched as the case was plea bargained without any consideration of him and without mention of restitution. I found this unacceptable.

At the same time, a deputy district attorney in the office was having great success in collecting restitution fees from defendants. This deputy DA helped me create the Restitution Unit. I advocated for access to uncollected restitution dollars and leveraged those monies with a contract between the Alameda County DA's Office and the California State Compensation Board. This program has since become a model for victim compensation and direct restitution.

In FY2008-2009, the unit obtained more than $9,000,000 in direct restitution orders in court on behalf of crime victims, and more than $780,000 in restitution for monies paid out on behalf of victims, and more than $500,000 in restitution fines and fees. For the 5th year in a row, the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office holds the #1 position for restitution in the State.

Forensic Scanning Unit
I am very proud of the recently created Forensic Scanning Unit. This unit systematically scans stored DA files into an electronic program created by the DA’s Office and ITD. The unit has successfully scanned over 10 years of stored files, subsequently saving the office over $45,000 per year in storage fees of paper files. Not only is the program cost-effective, but it is environmentally sound, leading the way for the Alameda County DA’s Office to become a “paperless” office. The bonus to this program is the summer youth program, in which youth are hired to do all of the scanning work and are also exposed to the criminal justice system, including the impact of crime to the community and victims, while learning to be responsible employees in today’s workforce.

District Attorney's Office - Budget

Over the past 6 years, the Alameda County District Attorney's Office has closed its budget gaps by becoming more efficient without sacrificing excellence and effectiveness. In 2003, the office saved $350,000 by reviewing the use of books in our library, seeking alternative funding for their purchase and by investing in on-line research. This is just one example of our continuing work to cut costs while working with increased budget constraints.

In 2009, the DA’s Office closed a budget gap of more than $6 million. I have been responsible for and involved in the budget process for nearly 10 years and have also been fortunate to have generated and managed millions of dollars through grants and other sources. Today, the District Attorney's Office continues to seek external funding while striving to increase our efficiency.

While the future holds even more anticipated budget cuts, I can assure you I will work tirelessly in continuing to maintain programs and seek funding to close budget gaps. It is my intention to do all I can do to assure the public that their needs will be met, regardless of budget issues. My commitment to the citizens of this community is steadfast and you can trust that I will fight for funding and to maintain programs to meet the needs of the community.