At the year’s end, NDAA lost 13 of its 22 Colorado DA members, including a former NDAA president and the chair of the APRI board—all of whom were required to step down as the result of a 2002 referendum affirming the state’s first-in-the-nation term limit rule for district attorneys. The rule, which became law on January 1, limits elected DAs to two four-year terms. Colorado has been a 100 percent NDAA membership state. Among the DAs who left office January 1 because of the law are A. William (Bill) Ritter, Jr., of Denver, APRI board chair; former NDAA President Stuart (Stu) A. VanMeveren of Fort Collins; and David J. Thomas of Golden, who prosecuted the high-profile Columbine school murder cases.
Other DAs who left office January 1 because of the term limit law were Jeanne Smith, Colorado Springs; Sara F. Law, Durango; Mark “Mac” Myers, Glenwood Springs; Edward J. Rodgers III, Canon City; Mark Adams, Fort Morgan; Gary R. Stork, LaJunta; Robert S. Grant, Brighton; James Peters, Englewood; A. M. Dominguez Jr., Greeley; and Frank J. Daniels, Grand Junction. Three additional term-limited DAs left earlier to take other positions after the term limits law took effect.
Gus F. Sandstrom Jr., Pueblo, a longtime NDAA member, who had been active in several committees, including juvenile justice and cyber crime, retired, as did Joseph Olt, Cortez.
When NDAA Board member Jerry M. Blair, state attorney of Florida’s Third Judicial Circuit (Live Oak), swore in Ernest M. Page IV as an assistant state attorney, it was a family affair, continuing a tradition that has spanned three generations. Page’s father, Ernest M. Page III, has been an assistant state attorney in the Third Circuit for 24 years, and his grandfather, Ernest M. Page, Jr. who attended the swearing-in ceremony along with his son, Ernest M. III, previously served as Madison County prosecutor (in the Third Circuit) for many years.
Paula Freschi Kamena, the first woman to be elected DA in Marin County, California, retired at the end of 2004, chiefly for health reasons, 18 months before the end of her second term. Earlier last year she suffered sudden blindness in one eye after a flight to Guam for a Soroptomists awards ceremony. She recovered her eyesight, but was concerned after doctors told her the problem might be caused by a stress-related virus. “Life is too short,” said Kamena, who is 57. “You get to the point where you start thinking, ‘What are you going to do for the rest of your life?’ I kind of wanted some time for me.” She added, “I’ve worked for the county for 35 years. I love my office and I love my job, but I’m looking forward to all the wonderful things I’ll be able to do. Everything is running smoothly, so the time felt right for me.”
Bill Gibbons, district attorney general of Shelby County (Memphis), Tennessee, has been appointed to the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN). The council coordinates federal juvenile delinquency prevention programs, federal programs involving detention or care of unaccompanied juveniles, and programs related to missing and exploited children. It also examines how such programs can be coordinated among federal, state and local governments. Gibbons has co-chaired NDAA’s Metropolitan Committee and currently serves as a director of APRI.
Yuma (Arizona) County Attorney Patricia Orozco has been appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals by Gov. Janet Napolitano, to fill a vacancy on the court. A former NDAA member and state director, she had been county attorney since 1999, following a nine-year career as a prosecutor and defense attorney in Yuma and Tucson. Prior to practicing law, she was a social worker and case manager for the Arizona Department of Economic Security. She becomes the only Hispanic on the court and the fourth woman on the 16-member panel.
Jeff Cheney is back at his job as a deputy DA in Garfield County, Colorado, after a year of military duty, largely in Iraq, as National Guard Capt. Cheney, with a bronze star, a lot of memories and a renewed sense of what it means to be an American. Cheney, whom his wife Kerri calls “a super patriot,” didn’t wait to be called. He volunteered, ending up as a JAG officer with an airborne special forces task force. His Bronze Star citation cites his “meritorious service” providing legal services “traveling extensively across some of the most hostile areas of Iraq…serving as a combat soldier and leader.” Kerri Cheney told the local newspaper, “I knew when I married Jeff that his love for his country was as close as his love for me. He believes everybody should serve…that everybody should give back.”
Commenting on the alarming increase in homicides by youths and young adults in his jurisdiction, Camden County (NJ) Prosecutor Vincent P. Sarubbi told his constituents in a public statement, “Law enforcement can’t wave a magic wand to reverse the moral propensity of a certain group of people.” He explained, “When we look at who is killing whom, from a statistical standpoint, it is 18 to 24-year-olds who are killing each other,” noting that people under the age of 24 make up 49 percent of Camden’s population. Pointing out that most of the homicides were drug-related, with a trend of parolees regressing into crime, Sarubbi said, “As a society we cannot depend on jails to solve our problems. We need programs to break the cycle.”
Ronnie Earle, the long-time DA of Travis County (Austin) Texas, is no stranger to controversy or challenging the mighty, regardless of political party. This time he is engaged in what he calls the most important case of his 28-year prosecutorial career, putting off retirement to bring about the indictment of three top fund-raisers for a political action group linked to Tom DeLay, majority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives and one of the most powerful congressional leaders. The defendants are charged with funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars in illicit corporate money to Republican statehouse candidates in 2002. The candidates’ victories led to a successful redistricting effort to solidify Republican control of Congress. As of this writing, the case was in the early stages. DA Earle, a Democrat, has gone after as many members of his own party as Republicans, and even once prosecuted himself. According to The New York Times, he announced on March 14, 1983: “I have discovered that my officeholder finance reports were not filed for 1981 and 1982.” He filed the reports belatedly, apologizing to his constituents for the misdemeanor and adding: “I have caused a complaint to be filed against me in this matter and this afternoon I expect to pay a fine assessed by the court.” He paid $212, including court costs.
While Evert Fowle, DA of Kennebec and Somerset Counties, Maine, was being seated as his state’s director on the NDAA Board of Directors, his fellow DAs back home were electing him president of the Maine District Attorneys Association.
Don Norris, prosecuting attorney of Clay County, Missouri, since 1999, has moved to the bench, becoming an associate circuit judge in Clay County.
Thomas F. Kelaher, Ocean County (NJ) prosecutor, has been elected the 2004-2005 president of the New Jersey County Prosecutors Association. John L. Molinelli, Bergen County prosecutor, is first vice president; and Vincent P. Sarubbi, Camden County prosecutor, is second vice president.
George W. Kennedy, DA of Santa Clara County, California, has received the 2004 Beacon Award from the California First Amendment Coalition for opening grand jury investigations in several police shooting incidents to the public. The Beacon awards are presented to individuals or organizations that have done exemplary work in informing the public, often by fighting to keep government meetings or records open to the public, and by supporting the First Amendment.
Honors: The Fulton County (Atlanta, Georgia) Courthouse has been renamed for the late Lewis R. Slaton, the eight-term Fulton DA who was a legend in the Atlanta area criminal justice system. NDAA Executive Director Thomas J. Charron was among the speakers during a ceremony when a specially commissioned portrait of Slaton was hung in the courthouse.
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