James P. Fox
"We in the District Attorney's Office are committed to seek justice and accountability for all who violate the law in our county. While best known for the prosecution of crime, the office serves the people of San Mateo County in additional ways. The Consumer and Environmental Protection Unit brings legal actions to prohibit unfair business practices and handles water pollution, hazardous waste and similar cases. The victim's unit provides financial, emotional, social and other assistance to victims of crime. The office also acts as Public Administrator to oversee the probate of estates.
(From the Web site of the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office.)
ELECTED IN 1982, James P. "Jim" Fox has been only the second district attorney in his jurisdiction since 1953. When he first took office, the role of the district attorney included providing civil advice to the county. Once a week, Fox would attend board of supervisors' meetings. "It was a real challenge in time management," says Fox, "The civil role ceased after my first five years but it has left me with a lasting appreciation for my colleagues across the country who wear both hats."
Scenic San Mateo County (pop. 707,000) is located on a 50-mile peninsula immediately south of San Francisco, bordered on the east by San Francisco Bay, on the west by the Pacific Ocean, and on the south by Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties. It encompasses 741 square miles of which 291 are covered by water. The City of Redwood, with a population of 75,000, is just 27 miles from San Francisco. Fox has never lived more than 30 miles from his current address.
A lot has changed since his election in 1982. Fox notes, "Back then, Proposition 8, which was essentially the Victims' Bill of Rights, had just been adopted. This meant some pretty sweeping reforms in the way we did business." Passed by popular referendum, Proposition 8 recognized the rights of victims in criminal justice proceedings and provided victims the right to speak at sentencing and parole hearings. The law required courts to lengthen the sentence of repeat offenders in cases of willful homicide, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault with a firearm, and burglary of a residence. "These changes, which we now take for granted, were obviously for the best," he says.
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Fox's "Recovered Memory" Homicide Case
JIM FOX STATES ONE OF HIS MOST memorable cases is the "recovered memory" homicide that garnered national attention. On November 28, 1989, George Franklin was placed under arrest for the murder of eight-year-old Susan Nason. Three days before, on November 25, 1989, George Franklin's 29-year-old daughter Eileen had sat down with two detectives in her living room to tell them of the rape and murder of her best friend, Susan, an unsolved crime that had occurred on September 22, 1969 -- more than 20 years before. Eileen's details were vivid: sunlight, trees, a dirt road, the rock smashing against Susan's head, her silver ring crushed by the blows, accompanied by the sound of breaking bones. Eileen went on to say that her father had then threatened her, saying that he'd kill her, too, if she ever told anyone what she had just seen and heard.
George Franklin stood trial for the murder of Susan Nason in November 1990. A guilty verdict was returned November 30, 1990. In 1995, the federal district court granted Franklin's habeas corpus petition. Fox ultimately chose not to retry Franklin because several witnesses in the first trial indicated that they would change their testimony in the event of a second trial. Given those circumstances, Fox felt it was improbable that a jury would reach a unanimous guilty verdict.
To supporters of the theory of "repressed memories" Eileen Franklin-Lipsker's recollection is strong evidence that George Franklin is a murderer. To detractors, Eileen Franklin-Lipsker represents everything that is wrong with the theory of "repressed memories" and "pop psychology."
For Jim Fox, it's a case he will always remember -- and wonder if a murderer got away with it.
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The mid-1980s were an interesting political time for California prosecutors. "Our California District Attorneys Association was instrumental in denying confirmation of California Supreme Court Justice Rose Bird to another term. Of the 64 death penalty cases that had reached the state supreme court during her tenure, only four were affirmed. Of those four, she dissented on each and every one. We were pleased to rid the court of her obvious bias against our death penalty statute, which was and still is the law in California," Fox states.
Of current concern is the economic recession across the state that has affected virtually every prosecutor's office in one way or another. Many offices are operating under a hiring freeze, unable to fill positions that become vacant as prosecutors retire or leave for greener civil pastures. Fox is pleased that "San Mateo County has a board of supervisors which recognizes and appreciates the role of prosecutors. So far, we have been able to escape the hiring freeze."
The 123-member office includes 49 full-time prosecutors and five half-time prosecutors, in addition to investigators, administrators and support staff. "We work with 23 police agencies, including 20 incorporated cities, the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) police, the California Highway Patrol and the sheriffs office. The San Francisco International Airport is within our county. It's fair to say we stay busy," he says.
Fox and his wife of 37 years, Bonnie, have three children: a daughter who is an elementary school teacher with two daughters of her own; an older son who is a San Mateo deputy county counsel in an office located just a few floors above his father's; and a younger son, an accomplished musician (traditional Irish music and Bulgarian music are two of his fortes) and an assistant editor for Bass Player magazine.
If Jim Fox could give one piece of advice to new prosecutors it would be: "Thoroughly enjoy the time you serve as a prosecutor even if you ultimately decide to go on to civil practice. Prosecution is the purest form of the practice of law. Prosecutors are in the business of doing what is right."
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