John Choi
County Attorney
John Choi immigrated to St. Paul at the age of three with his parents from South Korea. John graduated from St. Thomas Academy High School, Marquette University and Hamline University School of Law, and was a Humphrey Fellow at the University of Minnesota. Following law school, John was in private practice first at Hessian, McKasy, & Soderberg, and then at Kennedy & Graven, where he focused on government relations, administrative law, municipal law and civil litigation, rising to the level of partner within six years. John went on to become the Saint Paul City Attorney, leading a public law and prosecution office of 70 employees with an $8 million budget. Throughout his tenure, John was innovative in making reforms and finding efficiencies in the criminal justice system. John was pleased to have the opportunity to join the firm of McGrann, Shea, Carnival, Straughn & Lamb before becoming elected Ramsey County Attorney in the fall of 2010. As Ramsey County Attorney, John is working hard to continue to reform the criminal justice system and keep our community safe. In his spare time, John serves the community as a volunteer board member of several Saint Paul nonprofits, including Sounds of Hope and St. Paul Youth Services. He also serves on the board of the Ramsey County Bar Association and is member of the Saint Paul Rotary Club.
Daniel F. Conley
District Attorney
Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley is the chief law enforcement officer for the cities of Boston, Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop, Massachusetts. Appointed to the office in February 2002, Conley was elected in his own right on Nov. 5, 2002, again on Nov. 7, 2006, and most recently on Nov. 2, 2010. As district attorney, Conley oversees the largest and busiest district attorney’s office in Massachusetts. His office is currently responsible for the prosecution of between 40,000 to 50,000 criminal cases every year in the state’s most densely-populated county. Prior to taking office as Suffolk County’s 14th district attorney, Conley served for eight years on the Boston City Council, serving several terms as chairman of the Council’s Public Safety Committee. A career prosecutor before seeking public office, Conley served as an assistant district attorney for nine years in the office he now leads, prosecuting homicides and other serious felonies including drug trafficking, non-fatal shootings, and intimate partner violence. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was one of a handful of state prosecutors named to Massachusetts’ first anti-gang violence task force. Dan Conley’s top priorities as district attorney include the protection of society’s most vulnerable members, including seniors, children, and victims of domestic violence; reform and innovation to prevent and correct wrongful convictions; the aggressive prosecution of violent offenders, especially those who carry and use firearms on city streets; and adherence to the highest ethical standards by every member of his office.
Angela Corey
State Attorney
Angela Corey is a native of Jacksonville and a second generation Floridian. Corey received a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing from Florida State University in 1976, and her Juris Doctor from the University of Florida, College of Law in 1979. Corey is a 30-year veteran prosecutor and began her career in 1981 under State Attorney Ed Austin. During her 25 year tenure in the Fourth Judicial Circuit, Corey tried hundreds of cases including more than 50 homicides. In 2007, Corey joined the 7th Judicial Circuit for a two-year stint as an Assistant State Attorney in the homicide investigative unit. In November of 2008, she was elected to serve as the State Attorney of the 4th Judicial Circuit of Florida. In addition to her distinguished career trial work, Corey has devoted an equal amount of time to training police and prosecutors on local, state and national levels. Since 1982, Corey has taught classes for the Police Academy at Florida State College at Jacksonville. She has served as Training Director for the State Attorney’s Office as well as lectured extensively on a variety of topics for the Florida Prosecuting Attorney’s Association. In addition toher commitment to training for prosecutors, Corey has also served as an Adjunct Professor at the Florida Coastal School of Law. Corey has further displayed her commitment to continuous learning by achieving Board Certification in Criminal Trial Law.
George Gascón
District Attorney
George Gascón is the District Attorney for the City and County of San Francisco. He has earned a national reputation as a criminal justice visionary and as a leader who uses evidence based practices to make communities safer by lowering crime. He is the first Latino to hold the office in San Francisco and is the nation’s first police chief to become District Attorney. His approach to public safety and reform is based on the need to hold people accountable without breaking the wallets of California taxpayers. To begin addressing the high recidivism rate in California, District Attorney Gascón launched three groundbreaking initiatives – the Alternative Sentencing Program, the Neighborhood Courts and Neighborhood Prosecution Program and a county level Sentencing Commission. District Attorney Gascón has thirty years of experience in law enforcement promoting through the ranks to become Assistant Chief at the Los Angeles Police Department, Chief of Police in Mesa, Arizona and Chief of Police in San Francisco. In addition to his criminal justice work at the local, state, and national level, District Attorney Gascón has worked on public safety initiatives in Latin America and the Middle East. He is a Board member of the Council of State Government’s Justice Center, is a graduate of the FBI’s National Executive Institute, and is a member of the Harvard University/Kennedy School of Government’s Executive Session on Policing and Public Safety. District Attorney Gascón has a Bachelor of Arts in History from California State University, Long Beach, and a Juris Doctor Degree from Western State University, College of Law.
Mitchell R. Morrissey
District Attorney
Mitchell R. Morrissey was elected District Attorney of Denver in 2004. He is responsible for the prosecution of more than 6,000 felony and 18,000 misdemeanor criminal cases every year. He is nationally known for his expertise in DNA technology, applying that technology in criminal prosecutions and working to ensure that DNA science is admissible in our courtrooms. As the chief prosecutor for the Second Judicial District, Mitch is an aggressive prosecutor and an advocate of prevention and intervention initiatives. He makes victims a priority and is dedicated to providing victims a strong voice in the justice system through a number of efforts. Mitch has worked on behalf of the citizens of Denver for more than 20 years as an attorney in the Denver DA’s Office; more than half of those years he has served as a Chief Deputy. He has assisted the U.S. Attorney’s Office as a Special Assistant in prosecuting federal cases involving DNA evidence, was selected Prosecutor of the Year in 2001 by the Colorado District Attorneys’ Council, and has taught on a variety of subjects for the Council and the Denver Police Department including demonstrative evidence, rules of evidence, gang prosecutions, violent crime and DNA. Mitch serves on the board of the National Forensic Science Technology Center, as well as the board for Denver Crime Stoppers. He is a member of the Advisory Council for National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Council for the Rocky Mountain Region and has served on the board of the Denver Sexual Assault Interagency Council. He is a Denver native, a graduate of the University of Denver College of Law, the University of Colorado at Boulder, and Mullen High School.
Vic Reynolds
District Attorney
Vic Reynolds is the District Attorney of Cobb County, Georgia. Cobb County is one of five counties that make up Metropolitan Atlanta. It has a population of over 720,000 people. In 1979, Vic earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Georgia Southern University, in Statesboro. After graduating, Vic returned to Rome, where he was in law enforcement for four years. In 1986, Vic graduated from law school at Georgia State University and began prosecuting felony cases as an Assistant District Attorney in Fulton and Cobb counties. He was a prosecutor in Cobb when he was appointed as Chief Magistrate in 1994. Vic won election to a full term as Chief Magistrate in 1996, earning 72 percent of the vote. As Chief Magistrate, his duties included presiding over the Cobb County Drug Court. He left the bench in 1999 and began practicing criminal-defense law. Vic was elected District Attorney in 2012 and assumed office on January 1, 2013. He manages a staff of 115 people, including 40 assistant district attorneys. Vic is a member of Marietta Kiwanis, Marietta Business Association, Cobb Chamber, State Bar of Georgia and Cobb County Bar Association. Vic is married to Holly and they have two grown daughters.
P. David Soares
District Attorney
On October 26, 1969, P. David Soares was born in Brava, Cape Verde, an island off the coast of West Africa. When David was six years old his family moved to the United States and settled in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. David worked his way through Cornell University and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications. After Cornell, David attended Albany Law School and received his law degree in 1999. During Law School David interned and worked for the Albany County Airport Authority and also served as an intern at the District Attorney’s Office, where he eventually became an Assistant District Attorney. As an Assistant District Attorney in Albany County, David was Albany’s first community prosecutor. He established a Community Accountability Board, which successfully involved community members in turning youth away from crime and drugs. David was elected Albany County District Attorney on November 2, 2004 and re-elected to a second term on November 4, 2008. As a frequent Public Speaker, DA Soares continues to speak at events both locally and nationally. David has also received a number of awards and recognitions. David remains active in his community as a mentor in Bethlehem Youth Court, by teaching “Legal Lives” in the Albany Public Schools and as a board member of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Albany. David is the proud father of two young children.
Thomas Zugibe
District Attorney
Thomas P. Zugibe, was elected Rockland County District Attorney in 2007. Since taking office in January, 2008, Tom has been instrumental in implementing many innovative initiatives in the Rockland District Attorney’s Office. Prior to his election, Zugibe worked for two decades in private practice and served as the West Haverstraw Village Justice for a period of eighteen years. Between 1981 and 1987, Tom served as a prosecutor in the Rockland County District Attorney’s Office, where he was promoted to Executive Assistant District Attorney. His tenure in the District Attorney’s Office included directing the Narcotics Division and Major Offenses Division. District Attorney Zugibe began his legal career as a Special Assistant Attorney General in the Office of the New York State Deputy Attorney General for Medicaid Fraud Control under now-Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes. Tom is a 1975 graduate of Manhattan College and received his Juris Doctor degree from St. John’s University School of Law in 1979. He is admitted to the New York Bar and the Federal District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.
Mitchell Roth
Prosecuting Attorney
Mr. Roth was elected as the Prosecuting Attorney for the County of Hawaii in November of 2012. Mitch has an BA from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and a Jurist Doctorate from Whittier Law School. In 1993 he became a Deputy Prosecuting Attorney with City and County of Honolulu. As a Deputy Prosecutor in Honolulu, Mitch worked on all sorts of cases from traffic to felony offenses. In 1994, he helped develop a community oriented prosecution program for the City and County of Honolulu and became the first community oriented prosecutor in the State of Hawaii. He is a recipient of the Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney’s Award of Excellence. In 1998, he left Honolulu to become a Deputy Prosecutor and Community Oriented Prosecutor in Hawaii County. In the Hawaii County Prosecutor’s Office, Mitch has worked on a variety of cases in District, Family and the Circuit Courts. For several years, he supervised the Asset Forfeiture Program, the Community Oriented Prosecution project, and was designated as a Special Assistant United States Attorney. Mitch is Happily married and the father of three children.
Kym L. Worthy
Prosecuting Attorney
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy received her undergraduate degree in economics and political science from the University of Michigan, and her law degree from the University of Notre Dame School of Law. In 1984, she began her legal career at the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, and in 1989, she became the first African-American selected by the office as a Special Assignment Prosecutor. In 1994, Worthy was elected to the Detroit Recorder’s Court (now the Wayne County Circuit Court). During the next nine years, she presided over hundreds of serious felony cases and was re-elected to the court twice by overwhelming margins. On January 6, 2004, Worthy came full circle in her career and returned to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, this time as the Wayne County Prosecutor, the first African American and the first female to hold the position. Worthy is an adjunct professor of criminal law at the University of Detroit/Mercy and has lectured at Harvard Law School, the University of Notre Dame Law School, Wayne State University Law School and the Universite des Sciences Sociales in Toulouse, France. Ms. Worthy is the mother of Anastasia, 16, Anniston and Alessandra, 4.