Appellate & Training Division
The Appellate and Training Division provides support to the District Attorney’s Office through its work on motions, appeals and writs. Appellate prosecutors also serve as the legal advisor for the District Attorney's Office. The training function of the division is responsible for the coordination, development and facilitation of quality educational programs for prosecutors that both satisfy the State Bar requirements for continuing legal education and provide for the professional development of our trial attorneys. The division also facilitates training programs for investigators and paralegals.
DDA Laura Tanney is the Division Chief, DDA Sophia Roach serves as the Assistant Division Chief and Jim Kelly is the Assistant Director of Training. In 2009, the division welcomed DDA Richard Monroy, who is developing an office wide program to train “Ethics Advisors” throughout the office, who will then provide immediate assistance to trial deputies in matters of professionalism.
During 2009, the division’s attorneys drafted just under 200 motions and briefs in the Superior Court and Court Of Appeal and responded to more than 800 inquiries from prosecutors and law enforcement officers seeking advice. Attorneys in our division provided support for numerous high profile cases and actively participated in the development of internal policies and procedures related to areas such as investigative grand juries and the implementation of new legal precedents. The Appellate and Training Division is also responsible for publishing tremendous resources for this office and prosecutors’ offices across the state, including the Autobrief authored by DDA Craig Fisher.
Significant cases and proceedings that were handled by the division
include the denial of habeas relief to several convicted murderers including:
Samson
Dubria, a doctor convicted of murdering a young woman by administering chloroform
to effectuate a rape in 1993, who sought to have his conviction overturned
claiming laboratory contamination and alternate causes of death
Bishop Shaw who sought to have his murder conviction dismissed for failure to present evidence
of battered partner syndrome
Lanika Phillips who claimed that her attorney
was ineffective for failure to call expert witnesses during her murder trial.
Ongoing
litigation by division attorneys in two other high profile murder cases, Oropeza and Giminez, continued throughout 2009.
The District Attorney's office continues to be a state and national model with regard to training. The division, along with all of the members of the Legal Training Advisory Committee, devoted countless hours to the success of 90 training programs, which resulted in 3,850 total employees trained. Semiannual, daylong trainings in February and October addressed topics required for continuing legal education credits. We also provided legal education to local city attorneys and child support enforcement attorneys as part of our October training. Live stream training sessions broadcast throughout the office have become a monthly fixture providing updates on search warrant procedures, discovery, new legislation, juvenile prosecutions, and Marsy’s Law
Midyear, we began to offer additional
monthly training courses to take advantage of court furlough days. In addition,
our division provided computer based training programs designed to enhance
trial skills and was responsible for training the San Diego City Attorney’s
Office on the use of our integrated case management system. And, as usual,
this year’s training calendar also included integrated advocacy courses – New
Deputy Training, Felony Trial Advocacy and Advanced Trial Advocacy.
The year was also noteworthy for the contributions made by our attorneys to the education of prosecutors statewide in the area of victim’s rights and in designing policies and procedures to protect confidential information while complying with ethical and legal obligations.
Attorneys in the division also participated in the California District Attorneys Association, serving on its Board of Directors and authoring amicus briefs filed in the California Supreme Court and in the State Bar Review Court.
AWARDS
Awards earned by members of the division include: the Charles Nickel Award received by Laura Tanney for her statewide guidance on the implementation of Marsy’s law and contributions to the California District Attorneys Association and an Outstanding Achievement Award presented to Sophia Roach by Deputy District Attorneys Association.
