Appellate & Training Division
The Appellate & Training Division provides support to the District Attorney's Office through its work in the areas of motions practice, appellate practice, policy, ethics, legislation, and public records. Appellate prosecutors handle motions, appeals, and writ petitions. In addition, they serve as the legal advisor to the District Attorney's Office, providing on-demand legal assistance to trial attorneys. Deputy District Attorney Laura Tanney was the Division Chief and Deputy District Attorney, James Atkins, served as the Assistant Chief. Deputy District Attorney Bryn Kirvin continued in her position as the office ethics coordinator, providing advice, assistance, and training to attorneys in matters relating to ethics and professionalism in and out of the courtroom; Bryn has also taken on the role of Training Director for the department.
Last year, appellate attorneys assisted with numerous motions and briefs in the Superior Court, the Court of Appeal, and the California Supreme Court, and responded to hundreds of inquiries from prosecutors and law enforcement officers seeking advice. Attorneys in the division provided support for many high-profile cases and actively participated in the development of internal policies and procedures related to areas such as post-conviction discovery, public records requests, and the implementation of new legal precedents. The Appellate & Training Division is also responsible for publishing helpful resources for this office and prosecutors' offices across the state, including the Autobrief, which is edited by Deputy District Attorney Craig Fisher.
Examples of significant cases and proceedings that were handled by the division include:
Dumanis, et al. v. The State of California, et.al.
In a landmark case, the District Attorney continued its lawsuit against the State and the Governor's Office, seeking to overturn Governor Schwarzenegger's 11th-hour commutation of Esteban Nuñez, just prior to the Governor leaving office, for failure to comply with the notice requirements required by the California Constitution through Marsy's Law.
Padilla et al. v. Superior Court
In this case involving the murder of a police officer, Deputy District Attorney James Atkins successfully opposed three writ petitions filed by the defendants in the Court of Appeal, seeking dismissal of the charges.
People v. Goodwin
In our ongoing mission to support trial deputies, Deputy District Attorney Martin Doyle assisted in a fraud prosecution to require the defendant's former counsel to provide testimony regarding her receipt of evidence in the case. The trial court overruled former counsel's attorney-client privilege claim and ordered her to testify. She refused and the trial court held her in contempt. The defense filed a writ petition in the Court of Appeal, seeking to overturn the contempt order. DDA Doyle successfully handled the matter, which resulted in a published opinion.
The year was also noteworthy for the contributions made by our attorneys in drafting and supporting legislation. Deputy DAs in the division also authored articles and training materials. Attorneys in the division also participated in the California District Attorneys Association, serving on the appellate, legislation, legal issues and ethics committees.
On the training side, the division continues to dedicate itself to the development and coordination of high-quality in-house training programs that are tailored to the diverse needs of the organization.
Training Director Bryn Kirvin, along with Assistant Training Director Jim Kelly, and members of the Legal Training Advisory Committee devoted countless hours to successfully offer over 30 in-house programs, which resulted in approximately 2,500 people trained. These programs included integrated advocacy and multiday courses for prosecutors, such as New Deputy Training, Felony Trial Advocacy, and Sex Crimes & Human Trafficking; Semiannual, daylong trainings in February and October, which addressed topics required for continuing legal education credits; Live-Stream lectures and video trainings on the topics of Essentials for Ethical Closing Argument, Reading RAP Sheets and Histories of all Kinds, and AB109: Understanding and Applying the Intricacies of Realignment; and computer training for prosecutors, paralegals, and investigators, which focused on legal and investigative research.
The Appellate and Training Division was also responsible for determining the eligibility and suitability of resentencing three-strike inmates serving life terms under Proposition 36 – Three Strikes Reform. Deputy District Attorney Gregory Walden led the effort and together with graduate law clerks and staff from the division, reviewed over 350 petitions and completed over 175 hearings by the end of the year.
