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* Organ Models
* Skeletal Models
* Miscellaneous Models, Charts, Devices
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* COVID-19
* SB 1391
* SB 1437
* Bail Reform
* Reducing Crime and Keeping California Safe Act of 2018
* AB 1909 / ABA 3.8 Resources
* What’s New
* Committees
* Autobrief 21
* Case Law Summaries
* Vehicular Crimes
* Legal Sciences Library
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* Prosecutors Directory (2019 edition)
* Prosecutors’ Encyclopedia
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ABOUT US
The mission of the California District Attorneys Association (CDAA) is to
promote justice by enhancing prosecutorial excellence. To that end, CDAA is THE
source of continuing legal education and legislative advocacy for its
membership. In addition to offering seminars, publications, and extensive online
tools, CDAA serves as a forum for the exchange of information and innovation in
the criminal justice field.
Learn More
LEGISLATION
CDAA staff tracks between 200 and 400 bills per year. This is in addition to the
work done related to the annual adoption of the state budget.Legislation
Committee is charged with developing CDAA’s legislative advocacy program. This
committee determines CDAA’s legislative priorities by selecting bills to sponsor
and adopting positions on pending legislation. The committee is comprised of
approximately 35 ranging expertise, and meets at both CDAA annual conferences…
Learn More
PROSECUTOR RESOURCES
CDAA’s mission is to promote justice while enhancing prosecutorial excellence.
Listservs What’s New Committees Autobrief 20 Case Law Summaries and AG Opinions
The Inquisitive Prosecutor Guides 2015 Prosecutors Directory Prosecutors
Encyclopedia Jury Instructions Expert Witness Project Articles of Interest for…
Learn More
PUBLICATIONS
The California District Attorneys Association has been providing legal
publications to prosecutors, law enforcement, and other allied
administration-of-justice professionals for more than 30 years. Today, with the
assistance of grant funds and invaluable volunteers, CDAA’s Publications
Department produces topical periodicals, specialized newsletters, trial practice
manuals, monographs, and handbooks. To purchase publications from the CDAA
Store, click here….
Learn More
TRAINING & EVENTS
CDAA offers training programs in a variety of formats: Live and in-person,
distance learning, virtual seminars, Master Academy classes, and Wednesday
Webinars.
Learn More
ROLE OF THE DA
The primary role of the District Attorney is to protect the community he or she
is elected to serve. District Attorneys represent the public and endeavor to
improve public safety by prosecuting those who threaten the well-being of the
community and its citizens by breaking the law. Ultimately, a DA strives to
improve the community he or she represents by making it a better place to live
for everyone. The District Attorney’s functions include: Protecting the…
Learn More
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ABOUT US
The mission of the California District Attorneys Association (CDAA) is to
promote justice by enhancing prosecutorial excellence. To that end, CDAA is THE
source of continuing legal education and legislative advocacy for its
membership. In addition to offering seminars, publications, and extensive online
tools, CDAA serves as a forum for the exchange of information and innovation in
the criminal justice field.
i
PUBLICATIONS
The California District Attorneys Association has been providing legal
publications to prosecutors, law enforcement, and other allied
administration-of-justice professionals for more than 30 years. Today, with the
assistance of grant funds and invaluable volunteers, CDAA’s Publications
Department produces topical periodicals, specialized newsletters, trial practice
manuals, monographs, and handbooks.
TRAINING AND EVENTS
Due to COVID-19, CDAA is not offering any live trainings and events at this
time, but we are offering a wide-range of distance learning options for
participatory MCLE credit.
APRIL 20, 2021 STATEMENT ON DEREK CHAUVIN VERDICT
In response to the guilty verdicts returned today in the case of State of
Minnesota v. Derek Chauvin, CDAA president Vern Pierson commented: “Justice was
served today. The California District Attorneys Association applauds the jurors’
decision to convict the defendant on all counts. We also congratulate the
Minnesota Attorney General’s Office and the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office
for their unyielding and professional prosecution of this important murder
case.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HELPING PROSECUTORS DURING THE PANDEMIC
The COVID-19 pandemic brought so many changes to everyone’s personal and
professional lives. CDAA has trained prosecutors for nearly 50 years with live
training events and extensive manuals and periodicals. Since March 2020 we had
to pivot with the times, and while we have not been able to offer any in-person
events in the last 12 months, we have continued our mission to offer prosecutors
the skills and resources they need to effectively and ethically do their jobs:
representing the People and providing a voice and justice for crime victims.
During COVID, we have trained 11,046 prosecutors and law enforcement by offering
193 unique webinars and distance learning. In addition to participation in these
live, remote classes, we have had 20,239 views from our Webinars on Library.
CDAA publications are written BY prosecutors FOR prosecutors. During the
pandemic we produced and distributed the Investigation & Prosecution of Domestic
Violence manual and Investigation & Prosecution of Strangulation Cases to every
district attorney’s office in California. We also published the annual
Legislative Digest—a summary of all new laws that affect criminal justice and
prosecutors, as well as our quarterly journal Prosecutor’s Brief. And we are
pleased to announce that a brand-new edition of the Victims’ Rights Manual will
be published and distributed in May.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GASCÓN DEFENDS LAW THAT PUTS GUNS IN THE HANDS OF CRIMINALS
On February 26, 2021, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón
defended a law that puts guns in the hands of criminals at the exact moment that
Los Angeles County is descending into gun violence.
AB 3234, which was passed last year by the California Legislature, created a
diversion program allowing criminals—including those who bring guns to schools
or to the Capitol—to continue to own or possess guns.
“It’s a reckless law, but yesterday, George Gascón defended it,” said Vern
Pierson, President of the California District Attorneys Association (CDAA), an
organization that represents almost all of the elected district attorneys in
California and is committed to reforms, but not to the decriminalization of
dangerous crimes.
Meanwhile, gun violence in Los Angeles is soaring. Murders in Los Angeles County
are up 136.4% and shootings are up 261.5%. Attacks on police officers are up
300% from January 1 through January 18, 2021 when compared to the same time
period in 2020. The chance of becoming a victim of any firearm crime (violent or
property) in Los Angeles is now 1 in 33.
On this past Wednesday, February 24, 2021, pop icon Lady Gaga’s dog walker was
brutally shot in Hollywood while walking Lady Gaga’s two dogs. She is now
offering a $500,000, “no questions asked” reward for their safe return. But
Gascón has implemented new policies that remove long-standing deterrents to
criminals for using guns during the commission of crimes. “Under Gascón’s
policies, even if the assailants in this case are captured, they will face up to
20 years less time in prison for the crime than they otherwise would have,” said
Pierson.
With the reckless removal of gun crime deterrents, it is no surprise that gun
crimes under Gascón are soaring. Today, CDAA calls on Gascón to abandon his
reckless, soft-on-gun-crime policies. “The results of the Gascón experiment are
in,” said Greg Totten, CDAA’s Chief Executive Officer, “and it’s no surprise
that when you remove consequences for committing crimes with guns—gun crimes
soar, and that’s exactly what’s happening Los Angeles.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRUTH, GUNS, AND POLITICS
Assemblymember Sydney Kamlager recently published a rambling attack against this
organization that contained numerous false statements. Rather than defending her
history of voting for weaker gun laws, she has falsely attacked CDAA, which is
leading the fight to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. So let’s set the
record straight.
Last year, CDAA’s own Board of Directors discovered concerns with a financial
allocation issue in our accounting. When this issue came to light, we
immediately stopped the allocation practice and have already begun repaying the
funds. Despite our best efforts to ensure proper accounting, this allocation
practice had not been noticed in our annual audit. So our Board immediately
ordered an outside audit to determine the extent of the problem. We promptly
solicited bids and began the audit as soon as we had obtained an outside
accounting firm.We disclosed the findings of the outside audit on this very
website in December, weeks before the issue was reported by the press. We made
this disclosure in the interest of transparency, despite the fact that we are
not a public agency, and therefore had no legal obligation to do so. Nothing in
the audit found misappropriation of funds as Assemblywoman Kamlager repeatedly
and falsely claims.
But Ms. Kamlager did not stop there with her dishonest attacks against this
organization. Instead, she went on to also falsely represent our record on
criminal justice issues. The truth is that CDAA and Ms. Kamlager have very
different views about how to protect Californians. One example is gun safety.
CDAA has consistently advocated to keep guns away from criminals. But just last
year, Ms. Kamlager voted repeatedly to put guns in the hands of criminals. That
bill, AB 3234 created a diversion program allowing even criminals who brought
guns to schools or to the Capitol to continue to own or possess guns.Meanwhile,
gun violence in Ms. Kamlager’s own home town of Los Angeles is soaring. Los
Angeles saw the most murders last year in a decade. Victims shot in South Los
Angeles are up 742% compared to last year. And gun possession arrests rose 70%
in the last 6 months of 2020.
Sydney Kamlager has voted time and again to weaken gun laws. And now with gun
crimes soaring in her own backyard, she’s trying to change the subject by
attacking the leading organization advocating against the gun violence that she
is making worse. If there’s one lesson we’ve all learned about politics over
these last few years, it’s that truth matters. Californians deserve better than
politicians like Sydney Kamlager who won’t tell the truth. Call her at (310)
641-5410 and tell her to stop putting guns in the hands of criminals.
Paid for by the California District Attorneys Association Political Action
Committee. Not authorized by a candidate or a committee controlled by a
candidate.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CDAA FILES AMICUS BRIEF SUPPORTING LOS ANGELES ASSOCIATION OF DDAS
The Association has grave concerns that some of the policies established by
George Gascón violate the state’s constitutional protection of crime victims
January 12, 2021—The California District Attorneys Association (CDAA) announced
today it will file an amicus brief supporting a lawsuit filed by the Los Angeles
Association of Deputy District Attorneys (ADDA) against Los Angeles County
District Attorney George Gascón.
CDAA’s actions are in response to a request from the ADDA, the union
representing Los Angeles County prosecutors, which asked CDAA to weigh in on the
directives.
CDAA responded with an open ethics letter to the ADDA expressing grave concern
regarding some of the new Los Angeles County District Attorney’s policies,
including one that compels prosecutors to read a blanket statement in court
which, in some cases, violates the state’s constitutional protection of crime
victims.
New sentencing guidelines, issued by Gascón on his first day in office, force
Los Angeles County prosecutors to read a statement in court that asks for the
removal of certain sentencing enhancements, such as possession of a firearm in
the commission of a crime.
“By prohibiting the gun enhancement, this new policy seeks to punish a
gun-wielding robber the same as a defendant who snatches a purse from a victim’s
shoulder,” CDAA said in its letter.
CDAA is a training and advocacy group for state prosecutors that Mr. Gascón was
a member of when he served as San Francisco District Attorney, and it rarely
addresses policy differences among elected District Attorneys. As the letter
notes, however, CDAA believes it must take a position when policies implemented
by an individual District Attorney go beyond the exercise of discretion and
contravene both the state constitution and prosecutor ethics.
“The District Attorney does not possess the legal power to dispense with his
deputies’ constitutional and statutory obligations to crime victims or the duty
of candor by imposing a mandate to read a script,” said CDAA president Vern
Pierson.
The amicus brief will be filed later this month in accordance with the superior
court deadlines and procedures.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
STATEMENT FROM CDAA PRESIDENT VERN PIERSON RE JANUARY 6 RIOTS
January 7, 2021—Similar to many of the riots we saw earlier this year that began
as peaceful protests, the violent mob that entered the U.S. Capitol building
yesterday represents an attack on our most venerable and cherished institutions.
The violence we have witnessed from these mobs should be a calling to all of us.
A calling to fortify against this attack on the rule of law. A calling to come
together as a nation to support and defend the Constitution of the United States
against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
On January 27, 1838, a 28-year-old Abraham Lincoln gave a speech describing
America’s greatest danger: the “mobcratic spirit.” This speech is known as the
Lyceum Address. In words that ring far too familiar today, he said, “I hope I am
over wary; but … there is, even now, something of ill-omen amongst us. I mean
the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country; the growing
disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions in lieu of the sober
judgement of courts; and the worse than savage mobs, for the executive ministers
of justice ….” He warned that “if the laws be continually despised and
disregarded, if their rights to be secure in their persons and property are held
by no better tenure then the caprice of the mob …” then this government cannot
last.
I have spent my entire 30-year career in law enforcement, as a deputy district
attorney, a deputy attorney general, and since 2006 as the elected district
attorney of El Dorado County. It saddens me to see the rule of law get weaker
and weaker every day.
As a member of law enforcement, a veteran, a grandfather, father, husband, and
as an American, I strongly condemn the attack on the U.S. Capitol. As President
of the California District Attorneys Association (CDAA), I call on all of us in
law enforcement and, frankly, to all citizens, to support the rule of law and
assist federal, state, and local law enforcement in maintaining order,
supporting the constitutional right to peaceful protests, and seeking ways to
reduce the disregard for law that seems to pervade our country.
Author and journalist Malcolm Gladwell wrote, “The first person who throws the
rock is a lot more radical than the hundredth person. By the time the riot has
attracted a hundred people, you don’t have to be nearly as much a daredevil or a
hothead or committed to any of those things to want to engage in a riot.”
It seems that as a society, throwing that rock has become more and more common,
and thus easier and easier. We see it on social media chat pages, in the media,
and even amongst lifelong friends. The anger is rising, the passion is
intensifying, the rock throwing has become harder, and more dangerous.
I end this message as President Lincoln ended the Lyceum Address: “There is no
grievance that is fit object of redress by mob law.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CDAA ENVIRONMENTAL & WORKER SAFETY AUDIT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
December 22, 2020—Earlier this year, the CDAA Board of Directors became aware of
an internal accounting management practice that negatively impacted certain
funds dedicated to environmental protection and worker safety. In response, CDAA
commissioned a full and independent forensic financial audit of the programs by
the outside accounting firm of Hemming Morse, LLP. The audit revealed a
longstanding past financial practice, beginning in 2004, which resulted in the
borrowing of certain restricted funds to support general functions of the
organization. While the audit revealed no evidence of intentional malfeasance,
it did identify a pattern that violated best practices and accepted accounting
standards for restricted purpose funds.
Additional points:
* CDAA concurs with the audit findings.
* Upon learning of the issue this year, the CDAA Board took the following
actions: (1) acknowledged the improper borrowing of restricted funding and
immediately halted this practice; (2) alerted affected prosecutors in the
environmental community; (3) initiated a plan for repayment of the borrowed
funds; (4) commissioned a complete forensic audit by a highly respected
independent firm; and (5) began the process of ensuring complete fidelity in
the management of all restricted funds going forward.
* To assist the auditors, the CDAA Board also assigned several veteran
environmental and worker safety prosecutors to review all available
settlements to identity those that involved restricted funds. All current
CDAA staff members fully cooperated with the auditors.
* The forensic audit cited numerous communications and settlement documents
from District Attorneys and their offices stating that certain settlements
provided to CDAA were intended to be restricted in use.
* The forensic audit also found that independent annual financial audits
performed for CDAA did not meet industry standards in the audit evidence
verification process. CDAA is further investigating its options on this
issue.
* Notwithstanding the issues identified in this audit, the environmental
programs overseen by CDAA have provided unhindered environmental protection
and worker safety across California for over two decades and CDAA has spent
nearly $19 million in support of the programs.
For more information, please contact CDAA President Vern Pierson at
vern.pierson@edcgov.us
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2020 CDAA EXCELLENCE IN INNOVATION AWARDS
At the 2020 Winter Workshop in Rancho Mirage, January 13-17, CDAA recognized 14
programs developed by district attorney's offices as recipients of the CDAA
Excellence in Innovation Awards. These awards recognize creative, “out-of-box”
programs from district attorney’s offices andother prosecuting agencies that
promote justice, public safety, and/or victim advocacy in ways that are
innovative, effective, and/or cost-saving. The selection committee looks for
programs that are unique, as well as easily replicable by other counties. For
details about the winning programs, click HERE.
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CDAA LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN TO BRING DIVERSITY TO PROSECUTOR OFFICES
The CDAA Foundation has launched a new campaign aimed at encouraging young
people from all backgrounds to consider becoming prosecutors and fostering
greater diversity in district attorney’s offices throughout the state.
A new website, https://www.californiaprosecutors.org/, provides tools and
resources for those considering a legal career or who currently are attending
law school. It includes information on law schools, minority prosecutor
associations, internships and jobs.
The website features written and video testimonials from California Attorney
General Xavier Becerra and deputy district attorneys from throughout the Golden
State about why they chose their careers.
The project was the idea of Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey
who recognized the need for prosecutorial offices to reflect the diversity of
the communities they serve. District attorney’s offices statewide are involved
in the effort.
LINKS
* Allied Organizations
* Attorney General's Website
* California Clinical Forensic Medical Training Center
* City Attorney Roster
* District Attorney Roster
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