Candidate for
Superior Court Judge; County of Orange; Office 14

My father was a career Marine Corps officer and my mother was a legal secretary and homemaker. Our family moved to Orange County in 1972. I attended San Clemente High School and worked as an Ocean Lifeguard for the the City of San Clemente.

I attended U.C. Santa Barbara and received a B.A. in English in 1982. I attended the University of San Diego School of Law and received a J.D. in 1986. While in law school I worked as a law clerk for the United States Attorney's Office in San Diego, the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington, DC, and the California Court of Appeal in Santa Ana.

I became a Deputy District Attorney with the Orange County District Attorney's Office in 1986. Over the next several years I worked in several assignments prosecuting a broad variety of misdemeanor and felony offenses ranging from driving under the influence to robbery, residential burglary, and attempted murder.

Between 1991 and 1994 I worked in the Sexual Assault & Child Abuse Unit where I received the "Outstanding Prosecutor" Award from the Association of Orange County Deputy District Attorneys.

Between 1995 and 1998 I maintained a private law practice, specializing in pre-trial motions and appeals.

I returned to the DA's Office in 1999 and in 2000 was promoted to the Gang Unit where I prosecuted criminal street gang members for home-invasion robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, and murder.

In 2002, I was promoted to the Homicide Unit where I successfully prosecuted a dozen murder cases, including a number of "cold" cases, conspiracies to commit murder and "Special Circumstance" murders.

In 2005, I was promoted to Assistant District Attorney and supervised the North Justice Center branch of the office in Fullerton. In 2008, I was assigned to supervise the Law & Motion Unit, which provides legal opinions to the District Attorney and senior staff on a variety of matters, including criminal procedure, governmental law, and employment law.

I currently supervise the Juvenile Justice Center branch. In 2012 I convicted four criminal street gang members of the execution-style murder of a Westminster high school student.

I live in Laguna Niguel with my wife, Lisa, who is also a prosecutor and are twins, a boy and a girl. Lisa and I volunteer helping school children in the Gang Reduction Intervention Partnership.