Why Understanding DA Background Ensures Better Defense
Video Transcript
Knowing a district attorney’s background can materially improve your defense by helping your attorney anticipate charging choices, plea posture, and trial strategy. Prior cases, policies, and professional history often reveal how aggressively a DA prosecutes specific offenses and what outcomes they prioritize. This article explains what to look for in a DA’s record, how it affects negotiations and courtroom tactics, and how to use that insight to strengthen your defense.
Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media
It sure sounds like…if you can get the experience as a prosecutor versus a public defender, you’re going to be set up for private practice a lot better later on in life, which, of course, you’ve just explained.
Darryl Stallworth – Criminal Defense Attorney – Oakland, CA
It’s a no brainer. If you’re in a public defenders’ office for twenty years, and then you do private defense for another ten, all you’ve really been able to understand and appreciate is what to do when you’re defending someone. If you haven’t been on that other side of the table, if you haven’t been able to put together a case, if you haven’t been able to try to manage your witnesses and understand what you have to do, it doesn’t mean that you’re not as effective, because there are a lot of really great defense attorneys who’ve done nothing but defense work.
I just feel like I’ve got a particular skill set that allows me to take in consideration what it’s like to do both. Then that’s been really helpful for my clients.
Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media
Well, it makes a lot of sense when somebody thinks about it. I assume your clients recognize that? When you talk about that?
Darryl Stallworth – Criminal Defense Attorney – Oakland, CA
95% of them do. But you know, there are some clients that would say, oh, he was a prosecutor. He’s not going to understand and appreciate you… he was on the bad side, and I can’t do anything about that type of perception.
Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media
Of course.
Darryl Stallworth – Criminal Defense Attorney – Oakland, CA
The majority of my clients recognize and realize that this is an asset for them. They have somebody that understands the entire spectrum of what can happen with any particular case.