I was born and raised in the beach communities of Los Angeles County. My journey in the criminal justice system has spanned 34 years. For nearly a decade I was a police officer in Tacoma, Washington where I worked in patrol, traffic enforcement, and plain clothes narcotics and vice enforcement. I am a Washington State certified law enforcement and Emergency Vehicle Operations (pursuit driving) instructor. I left the world of law enforcement to pursue a career in the law because of my reverence for the Bill of Rights and the principles of ordered liberty. I am licensed in California and Washington. My experiences as a lawyer have been varied, but the most satisfying have been those in which I have had the opportunity to be in court on a regular basis. For me, that is where a lawyer shows who they are. I have worked as a criminal prosecutor, a legal advisor and prosecutor at the State Bar of California, and for the last several years as a criminal defense attorney. For a large portion of my career, I worked in the federal trial and appellate courts as a staff attorney advising federal judges on death penalty cases. I try to make my clients’ experience with the justice system as unburdened as possible and work for the outcome that will have the least negative impact on their lives and the lives of their families. The criminal justice system should be a shield of protection and not a weapon of retribution.