Vertical Felony Trial Teams

There are four felony criminal trial departments in the Marin County Superior Court. The District Attorney has assigned a vertical trial team to each of these departments. Every felony prosecution will be handled in one of these departments and will remain in that assigned department for the duration of the case. In each of these trial teams there is an added Family Violence specialist. Therefore each of the felony trial departments has a minimum of three Deputy District Attorneys to cover that department's caseload. A senior trial attorney will be the Lead Attorney (or Coordinator) for the felony trial department and will be responsible for the assignment of incoming cases to his or her department. Automatically the Family Violence specialist will handle all Family Violence cases in their vertical department.

This structure provides the opportunity to have "vertical prosecution" of all felony cases prosecuted in Marin. A single attorney assigned to each of these felony cases means that victims and witnesses will not have to retell their statements to a new attorney whenever their case appears in court. A single attorney will relieve the law enforcement officer from having to re-educate a new attorney to the investigative facts of his or her case. A single judicial assignment eliminates what is called "forum shopping" a past practice of waiting until the last minute to decide whether to take a case to trial in hopes that a "better deal" will be offered at the last minute. Not only are better efficiencies created by using this system of case management, but justice is better served.

Return to Mission, Structure and Divisions Page

Return to DA Home Page