Is the size of the district attorney's office irrelevant when the office has more than 1,000 deputy district attorneys?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from Melcher v. Superior Court of Calaveras Cnty., 10 Cal.App.5th 160, 215 Cal.Rptr.3d 871 (Cal. App. 2017):

It is also true that the size of the district attorney's office may be irrelevant when the evidence establishes a conflict held by anyone in the office influences how a deputy prosecutes a case. "[W]here the record on the recusal motion indicates that the conduct of any deputy district attorney assigned to the case, or of the office as a whole, would likely be influenced by the personal interest of the district attorney or an employee, the motion is properly granted. [Citations.]" (People v. Vasquez, supra, 39 Cal.4th at p. 57 & fn. 2, 45 Cal.Rptr.3d 372, 137 P.3d 199 [Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office recused where prosecuting attorney based strategy in part on fact defendant was son and stepson of an office administrator and a deputy district attorney, respectively, even though office had a staff of nearly 2,000, including 948 deputy district attorneys]; see People v. Choi, supra, 80 Cal.App.4th at p. 483, 94 Cal.Rptr.2d 922 [recusal of San Francisco City and County District Attorney's Office upheld where ethical wall failed to prevent district attorney from injecting himself into prosecution of murder of a close friend].)

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