John J. Choi (born June 2, 1970) is an American attorney and politician who has served as the county attorney of Ramsey County,

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

since 2011. He served as

Saint Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

City Attorney from 2006 to 2010. Choi is a first-generation

Korean-American Korean Americans are Americans of Korean ancestry (mostly from South Korea). In 2015, the Korean-American community constituted about 0.56% of the United States population, or about 1.82 million people, and was the fifth-largest Asian Americans ...

immigrant and the first Korean American to serve as a county attorney in the United States. He has gained attention for his office's successful prosecutions of

human trafficking Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extrac ...

and for his support of

criminal justice reform Criminal justice reform addresses structural issues in Criminal justice, criminal justice systems such as racial profiling, police brutality, overcriminalization, mass incarceration, and recidivism. Criminal justice reform can take place at any poi ...

efforts.

Early life and career

Choi was born in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

and immigrated to the United States with his parents in 1973. The family resided for a time in Saint Paul's

Skyline Tower Skyline Tower is a large low-income high rise apartment complex in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. The building is also often called St. Anthony Tower, or 1247 St. Anthony. At it is the largest single HUD-subsidized building in Minnesota, ...

, the largest

subsidized housing Subsidized housing is government sponsored economic assistance aimed towards alleviating housing costs and expenses for impoverished people with low to moderate incomes. In the United States, subsidized housing is often called "affordable housin ...

complex in the United States west of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Choi is a graduate of St. Thomas Academy and

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Henni, John Martin ...

. In 1995, he received a ''

juris doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

'' from Hamline University Law School and graduated from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

Humphrey School of Public Affairs The Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs is a public policy and planning school at the University of Minnesota, a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota. It is named after Hubert ...

as a Humphrey Fellow. Prior to graduating from law school, Choi was a legislative aide to

Saint Paul City Council The Saint Paul City Council is the governing body of Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, as part of a strong mayor–council government. There are seven members from seven wards who are elected to four-year terms. Amy Brendmoen is the current ...

member Bob Long and was active in Twin Cities politics. Between 1995 and 2006, Choi practiced commercial litigation,

government relations In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...

law, and

municipal law Municipal law is the national, domestic, or internal law of a sovereign state and is defined in opposition to international law. Municipal law includes many levels of law: not only national law but also state, provincial, territorial, regional, ...

with the Twin Cities firms Hessian, McKasy, & Soderberg and Kennedy & Graven, where he became a

partner Partner, Partners, The Partner, or, The Partners may refer to: Books * ''The Partner'' (Grisham novel), by John Grisham, 1997 * ''The Partner'' (Jenaro Prieto novel), 1928 * ''The Partners'' (book), a 1983 book by James B. Stewart * ''Partner'' (m ...

at age thirty. In 2006, he was appointed by Mayor Chris Coleman as Saint Paul City Attorney. As city attorney, Choi served as the city's chief legal counsel and supervised

misdemeanor A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than adm ...

prosecutions.

Tenure as county attorney

In 2010, Choi stepped down as city attorney to run for Ramsey County Attorney, an office vacated by the retiring Susan Gaertner. He received the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party's endorsement and won the August 2010 primary election over attorney David Schultz and Roseville City Council member Tammy Pust, ultimately prevailing over Schultz in the November general election. Choi was reelected without opposition in 2014; reelected in 2018 over Luke Kyper Bellville with 78.4% of the vote; and reelected without opposition in 2022.cn As county attorney, Choi oversaw all

felony A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that resu ...

prosecutions in Ramsey County, serves as the county's chief legal counsel, and manages the county's

child support Child support (or child maintenance) is an ongoing, periodic payment made by a parent for the financial benefit of a child (or parent, caregiver, guardian) following the end of a marriage or other similar relationship. Child maintenance is paid d ...

services. He has embraced

initiatives, establishing a veterans' treatment court, engaging in community prosecution efforts, and working to reduce racial disparities. Along with other reform-minded prosecutors, he has participated in the Institute for Innovation in Prosecution. Choi has also aggressively prosecuted human trafficking and other cases of

violence against women Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), are violent acts primarily or exclusively committed against women or girls, usually by men or boys. Such violence is often consi ...

, earning recognition from other county attorneys in Minnesota for these efforts. In 2015, he announced the indictment of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis for crimes related to the coverup of sexual abuse cases. In 2017, Choi's office prosecuted St. Anthony police officer Jeronimo Yanez for manslaughter after the death of Philando Castile in

Falcon Heights, Minnesota Falcon Heights is a suburb of Saint Paul and a city in Ramsey County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 5,321 at the 2010 census. It became a village in 1949 and a city in 1973. Falcon Heights is the home of the University of Minn ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Choi, John 1970 births Living people Lawyers from Seoul South Korean emigrants to the United States Marquette University alumni Hamline University School of Law alumni Humphrey School of Public Affairs alumni Minnesota lawyers American prosecutors