The San Diego County District Attorney is the elected

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...

for

San Diego County, California San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the fi ...

. This office is responsible for the

prosecution A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial ...

of both

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 ...

and

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 ...

violations of

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

state law State law refers to the law of a federated state, as distinguished from the law of the federation of which it is a part. It is used when the constituent components of a federation are themselves called states. Federations made up of provinces, cant ...

that occur within the jurisdiction of

San Diego County San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the fi ...

. Courts within their jurisdiction includes the San Diego Superior Court, the

California Court of Appeal The California Courts of Appeal are the state intermediate appellate courts in the U.S. state of California. The state is geographically divided along county lines into six appellate districts.

for the Fourth District, and the

California Supreme Court The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacra ...

Federal law Federal law is the body of law created by the federal government of a country. A federal government is formed when a group of political units, such as states or provinces join in a federation, delegating their individual sovereignty and many po ...

violations are prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California. The current District Attorney is Summer Stephan, who replaced

Bonnie Dumanis Bonnie Michelle Dumanis (born December 16, 1951) was the District Attorney of San Diego County, California. She held the office 2003 to 2017. Dumanis is a Republican, though the office she held was officially nonpartisan. She was the first openl ...

on an interim basis after the latter resigned in July 2017. As in most of California, some misdemeanor crimes are prosecuted by local

city attorney A city attorney is a position in city and municipal government in the United States. The city attorney is the attorney representing the municipality. Unlike a district attorney or public defender, who usually handles criminal cases, a city at ...

s. City attorneys share jurisdiction with the District Attorney to prosecute misdemeanors and infractions that are committed within the city's jurisdiction. All other misdemeanor, felony, and infraction violations that occur within San Diego County are prosecuted by the district attorney. The main office is located in

Downtown San Diego Downtown San Diego is the city center of San Diego, California, the eighth largest city in the United States. In 2010, the Centre City area had a population of more than 28,000. Downtown San Diego serves as the cultural and financial center and ...

in the Hall of Justice, with three regional centers in

El Cajon El Cajon ( , ; Spanish: El Cajón, meaning "the box") is a city in San Diego County, California, United States, east of downtown San Diego. The city takes its name from Rancho El Cajón, which was in turn named for the box-like shape of the va ...

Chula Vista Chula Vista (; ) is the second-largest city in the San Diego metropolitan area, the seventh largest city in Southern California, the fifteenth largest city in the state of California, and the 78th-largest city in the United States. The popul ...

, and

Vista Vista usually refers to a distant view. Vista may also refer to: Software *Windows Vista, the line of Microsoft Windows client operating systems released in 2006 and 2007 * VistA, (Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture) ...

. As of 2011 the District Attorney's office employs 310 attorneys. The District Attorney's office claims a 90+ percent conviction rate. The conviction rate for driving under the influence (DUI) in 2010 was 98% of 11,000 people charged with felony or misdemeanor DUI.

History

In the first 20 years of San Diego County there were 23 men that held the office of district attorney, the first being William C. Ferrell.

Partial list of District Attorneys

Bureau of Investigation

The San Diego District Attorney currently maintains a law enforcement arm called ''Bureau of Investigation''.San Diego District Attorney, Criminal Divisions, Bureau of Investigation
Official website of the San Diego District Attorney, access date: 12 May 2018. It consists of eight divisions, which include 130 District Attorney Investigators who are sworn California peace officers pursuant t
§ 830.1(a) California Penal Code
and other non sworn staff.
Official website of the San Diego District Attorney, access date: 12 May 2018. Amongst its law enforcement duties and responsibilities are assignments which may include pre-trial, gang, economic, insurance, fraud investigations; family protection, child abduction, sex crimes, stalking, and special operation investigations. Apart from this, San Diego DA Investigators may be assigned to regional local, state and federal task forces such as: computer and high tech crimes, narcotics, auto theft, identity theft, violent crimes, SAFE and fraud.

References

External links

{{- District Atty