List of California district attorneys

This is a list of notable people who have held the role of district attorney in California.

List by county

Counties (A-M)

Alameda County

Main article: Alameda County District Attorney's Office

• Earl Warren ^[1] (1925-1939)
• Tom Orloff (1994-2009)
• Nancy O'Malley (2009-2023)
• Pamela Price (2023-2024) (Democratic)
• Royl Roberts (interim) (2024-2025)
• Ursula Jones Dickson (2025-present) (Democratic)

Alpine County

• Christopher W. Smith (1977-1981)
• Robert Priscaro (2022-present)

Amador County

• Robert M. Briggs (1862-1867, 1871)
• Anthony Caminetti (1878-1882) (Democratic)
• Gale Cuneo (1979-1983)

Butte County

• Albert F. Jones (1883-1884)
• Michael L. Ramsey (1987-present)

Calaveras County

• William Higby (1853-1859)

Colusa County

• John Poynder ^[2] (1984-2016)

Contra Costa County ^[3]

• John A. Nejedly (1958-1969)
• Mark Peterson (2010-2017)
• Diana Becton (2017-present) (Democratic) ^{[4] [5]}

Del Norte County

• Michael Riese ^[6] (1997-2010)
• Jon Alexander ^[7] (2011-2014)

El Dorado County

• Silas Sanderson (1861-1864)
• Gideon J. Carpenter

Fresno County ^[8]

• Campbell E. Beaumont (1918-1921)
• Glenn M. DeVore (1926-1934)

Glenn County ^[9]

Humboldt County ^[10]

• Walter Van Dyke ^[11] (1854-1855)
• John J. De Haven (1967-1869)
• Terry Farmer (1983-2002)
• Paul Gallegos (2002-2014)
• Maggie Fleming (2015-2022)
• Stacy Eads (2022- present)

Imperial County

• John Morton Eshleman (1907-1910)
• Phil Swing (1911-1915)

Inyo County

• H.L. Gibbons ^[12] (1974-1997)

Kern County

• Ed Jagels (1983-2010)

Kings County

• Justin Miller (1915-1918)

Lake County

Lassen County

• Isaac Roop

Los Angeles County ^[13]

Main article: Los Angeles County District Attorney

• Kimball H. Dimmick (1852-1853)
• Cameron E. Thom (1854-1857, 1869-1873, 1877-1879)
• Ezra Drown (1857-1859, 1961-1863)
• Edward J. C. Kewen (1859-1861)
• Alfred Chapman (1863-1864, 1867-1869)
• Volney Howard (1864-1867, 1873-1876)
• Stephen M. White (1882-1884)
• George S. Patton (1887-1887) (Democratic)
• James McLachlan (1890-1892) (Republican)
• John D. Fredericks (1903-1915) (Republican)
• Thomas L. Woolwine (1915-1923) (Democratic)
• Asa Keyes (1923-1928) (Republican)
• Buron Fitts (1928-1940) (Republican)
• John F. Dockweiler (1940-1943) (Democratic)
• Frederick N. Howser (1943-1946) (Republican)
• Evelle J. Younger (1964-1971) (Republican)
• Joseph P. Busch (1970-1975)
• John Van de Kamp (1975-1981) (Democratic)
• Robert Philibosian (1982-1984) (Republican)
• Ira Reiner (1984-1992) (Democratic)
• Gil Garcetti (1992-2000) (Republican)
• Steve Cooley (2000-2012) (Republican)
• Jackie Lacey (2012-2020) (Democratic)
• George Gascón (2020-2024) (Democratic)
• Nathan Hochman (2024-present) (Independent)

Madera County

• David Minier (1976-1991)

Marin County ^[14]

• Thomas J. Bowers (1873-1879)
• Frank M. Angellotti (1885-1891) (Republican) ^[15]
• Richard M. Sims Jr. (1950-1953)

Mariposa County

Mendocino County ^[16]

• Frank S. Petersen (1960-1962)
• C. David Eyster (2011-present)

Merced County ^[17]

• Peter D. Wigginton (1864-1868)
• John Witherspoon Breckinridge (1890-1892)
• Nicole Silveira (2022-present)

Modoc County

• John E. Raker (1895-1899)

Mono County

• George N. Whitman (1868)

Monterey County

• Delos R. Ashley (1851-1852)
• Bradley V. Sargent Jr. (1890-1892)

Counties (N-Z)

Napa County

• Frank Coombs (1880-1885)
• Theodore Arlington Bell (1895-1903)
• Allison Haley (2016-present)

Nevada County

• John R. McConnell (1852)
• William M. Stewart (1852-1853)
• Niles Searls (1983)
• John Isaiah Caldwell (1870-1871)
• Aaron A. Sargent (1885/86-1886) (Republican)

Orange County

• Tony Rackauckas (1999-2019)
• Todd Spitzer (2019-present)

Placer County

• Jo Hamilton (1860, 1862)

Plumas County

• Ulysses S. Webb (1890-1902)

Riverside County

• Rod Pacheco (2007-2011)
• Michael Hestrin (2014-present) (Republican) ^[18]

Sacramento County

• Frank Hereford (1855-1857)
• William W. Upton (1861-1864)
• Robert F. Morrison
• Steve White (1989-1995)
• Anne Marie Schubert (2014-2023)
• Thien Ho (2022-present)

San Benito County

• George H. Moore (1917-1927)

San Bernardino County ^[19]

• Michael A. Ramos (2002-2019) (Republican)
• Jason Anderson (2019-present)

San Diego County ^[20]

• Thomas W. Sutherland (1851-1852)
• William Jefferson Hunsaker (1882-1884)
• Spencer M. Marsh (1915-1917)
• Bonnie Dumanis (2003-2017) (Republican)
• Summer Stephan (2017-present) (Republican)

San Francisco County (City and County of San Francisco)

Main article: San Francisco District Attorney's Office

• Lewis Francis Byington (1900-1905) (Democratic)
• William Langdon (1906-1910)
• Charles Fickert (1910-1920)
• Matthew Brady (1920-1944) (Democratic)
• Pat Brown (1944-1951) (Democratic)
• Thomas C. Lynch (1951-1964) (Democratic)
• John J. Ferdon (1964-1976)
• Joseph Freitas Jr. (1976-1980)
• Arlo Smith (1980-1996) (Democratic)
• Terence Hallinan (1996-2004) (Democratic)
• Kamala Harris (2004-2011) (Democratic)
• George Gascón (2011-2019) (Democratic)
• Suzy Loftus (interim) (2019-2020) (Democratic)
• Chesa Boudin (2020-2022) (Democratic)
• Brooke Jenkins (2022-present) (Democratic)

San Joaquin County

• Forsythe Charles Clowdsley (1937)

San Luis Obispo County

• Gerald Shea (1998-2013)

San Mateo County

• Charles N. Fox (1858-1862)

Santa Barbara County

• David Minier (1967-1975)
• Thomas W. Sneddon Jr. (1983-2007)

Santa Clara County ^[21]

• Augustus Rhodes (1859-1860)

Santa Cruz County

• James Harvey Logan (1872-1873, 1875-1880)
• W. D. Storey (1879)
• William T. Jeter (1884-1892)
• Christopher Cottle (1975-1977)

Shasta County ^[22]

• Jesse W. Carter (1919-1927)
• McGregor W. Scott (1997-2003)

Sierra County

• Tirey L. Ford (1988-1990) (Republican)

Siskiyou County ^[23]

Solano County

• Joseph McKenna (1866-1868)
• Abram J. Buckles (1879-1884)

• Krishna Abrams (2014-present)

Sonoma County

• Clarence F. Lea (1907-1917)
• Emmett Seawell (1892-1902)

Stanislaus County

• Sherrill Halbert (1949-1954)
• Birgit Fladager (2006-2023)

Sutter County

• Carl Adams ^[24] (1982-2013)

Tehama County

• Clair Engle (1934-1942)
• Gregg Cohen ^[25] (1998-2018)

Trinity County

• John Chilton Burch (1853-1856)
• Donna Daly ^[26] (2018-2020)

Tulare County

Tuolumne County

• Caleb Dorsey (1856-1857)
• John Curtin (1892-1898)

Ventura County ^[27]

Yolo County

• Charles H. Garoute (1877-1879)

Yuba County

• Isaac S. Belcher (1856-1857) (Know Nothing)
• Edwin Alexander Forbes (1894-1897)

Deputy distict attorneys

• Maxine M. Chesney
• Carol Corrigan
• Jeff Gorell
• Kimberly Guilfoyle ^[28]
• Henry T. Hazard
• Hiram Johnson
• John Miner
• Arthur Ohnimus
• Pierre-Richard Prosper
• Timothy Stoen
• Stanley Weisberg

References

1. Cray, Ed (1997). Chief Justice: A Biography of Earl Warren. Simon and Schuster. pp. 35–36. ISBN   978-0-684-80852-9.
2. Rachel Rosenbaum (September 27, 2016). "32 years a D.A." Colusa County Sun-Herald. Retrieved October 20, 2025.
3. "History of the Office". ContraCosta.ca.gov. Contra Costa District Attorney. Retrieved October 20, 2025.
4. Alvero, Erika (September 19, 2017). "Diana Becton sworn in as Contra Costa district attorney". DanvilleSanRamon.com. Embarcadero Media. Archived from the original on November 13, 2017. Retrieved November 13, 2017.
5. Gartrell, Nate (June 14, 2018). "Graves concedes; Diana Becton likely Contra Costa's first elected African-American, woman DA". The Mercury News. Archived from the original on February 11, 2023. Retrieved July 2, 2022.
6. "Former DA files suit against Del Norte County, Crescent City; Riese demanding a jury trial for his multiple-defendant case". Times-Standard. July 30, 2012. Retrieved October 20, 2025.
7. Charles Piller (October 24, 2014). "Former Del Norte DA disbarred". Sacramento Bee. Retrieved October 20, 2025.
8. "History of the DA's Office". Fresno County District Attorney. Retrieved October 20, 2025.
9. Dominic Brock. "History of Glenn County District Attorneys". County of Glenn California. Retrieved October 20, 2025.
10. Jeremiah R. Scott, Jr. "District Attorneys Reflect Diversity of County" (PDF). Humboldt County Historical Society. Retrieved October 20, 2025.
11. Shuck, Oscar Tully (1901). History of the Bench and Bar of California: Being Biographies of Many Remarkable Men, a Store of Humorous and Pathetic Recollections, Accounts of Important Legislation and Extraordinary Cases, Comprehending the Judicial History of the State. Los Angeles, CA: Commercial Printing House. p.  496 . Retrieved September 23, 2017. walter van dyke oscar tully shuck.
12. Myrna Oliver (May 5, 2011). "H.L. Gibbons: Inyo D.A. Fought DWP Over Owens Valley Water". LA Times. Retrieved October 20, 2025.
13. "Office History". da.lacounty.gov. Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. Retrieved October 20, 2025.
14. "Past District Attorneys". Marin County DA. Retrieved October 20, 2025.
15. "Past District Attorneys: Frank M. Angellotti". Marin County, California. Retrieved September 5, 2017.
16. "Office History". County of Mendocino. Retrieved October 20, 2025.
17. "Merced County District Attorneys 1855-Present". Merced County District Attorney's Office. Retrieved October 20, 2025.
18. "Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, DA Mike Hestrin get 2 more years in office". The Press-Enterprise. October 21, 2022.
19. "Previous District Attorneys". San Bernardino County. Retrieved October 20, 2025.
20. Gayle Falkenthal (1999). "The District Attorney's Office: A Brief History" (PDF). Law Enforcement Quarterly. Retrieved October 20, 2025.
21. "History of the District Attorneys Office". County of Santa Clara. Retrieved October 20, 2025.
22. "Shasta County District Attorneys History 1851 to Present". County of Shasta. Retrieved October 20, 2025.
23. "Past District Attorneys". Siskiyou County. Retrieved October 20, 2025.
24. Harold Kruger (October 1, 2013). "Sutter County DA Adams retiring amid scandal". Appeal-Democrat. Retrieved October 20, 2025.
25. Alayna Shulman (March 9, 2018). "After 20 years, Tehama district attorney has 'heavy heart' over decision not to run again". Record Searchlight. Retrieved October 20, 2025.
26. "Donna Daly Obituary". Trinity County. Retrieved October 20, 2025.
27. "Pride in the Past...Faith in the Future". Ventura County District Attorney. Retrieved October 20, 2025.
28. Jones, Aphrodite (2003). Red Zone: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of the San Francisco Dog Mauling . New York: William Morrow. ISBN   0-06-053779-5.