Steve Cooley

Most voters have by now received their sample ballots, and those who plan to vote by mail are sending in their applications. The June 5 election is underway right now. It is noteworthy for several reasons. Los Angeles County voters will be selecting a new district attorney, and this is the first time since 1964 that there is no incumbent trying to hold onto the seat. The field is wide open. To win outright in this nonpartisan race, a candidate must get more than 50% of the vote.

Los Angeles County Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey gave conflicting testimony under oath during two union grievance hearings, attributing the contradiction to being confused and having problems with her blood sugar level, according to transcripts reviewed by The Times. Lacey, who is running for district attorney and has won major endorsements from newspapers, including The Times, testified under oath in 2009 and 2010 as part of a county employment dispute in which the union representing prosecutors accused the district attorney's office of retaliating against its officers.

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley said Tuesday that the corruption investigation of Assessor John Noguez has grown to include multiple targets and that he intends to seek grand jury indictments in the near future. In his first public comments about the expanding criminal probe, Cooley also accused the union that represents assessor's office employees of interfering with the investigation by ordering members to refuse to cooperate without permission from Noguez's office.

The California attorney general's office announced Thursday that it would take no further action in response to a request by Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich to investigate what he called "suspicious political activity" in the district attorney's office. Trutanich asked for an investigation last week after a Times story noted that his district attorney's personnel file from his days as a young county prosecutor during the 1980s was missing. "Our office has reviewed this matter and determined that no further action is warranted at this time," Atty.

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley on Wednesday called for the resignation of Assessor John Noguez, whose office has been the target of a corruption probe. Cooley made the comments to reporters for several news organizations, a day after he announced that he planned to bring the case to a grand jury. "I don't think he should be there," Cooley told KNBC-TV Channel 4. "In my view, he should resign in the light of everything that's come out publicly. " Officials at the district attorney's office confirmed that Cooley would like Noguez to step down.

Los Angeles County voters will soon select a new district attorney, and it likely will be their most consequential vote in years. It is hard to overstate the role that the top prosecutor of the nation's most populous county will have as California completely reinvents its justice system. Residents must demand a D.A. who will do his or her utmost to keep them safe, while at the same time embracing reform and ensuring smarter, and less costly, punishment and supervision of nonviolent criminals.

Steve Cooley Party: Republican Occupation: Los Angeles County District Attorney Age: 63, born in Los Angeles Residence: Rancho Palos Verdes Personal: Wife, Jana Cooley; two adult children; one granddaughter Education: Bachelor's degree, social science and history, Cal State L.A.; J.D., USC Law Center Career highlights: Joined L.A. County district attorney's office in 1973 as a law...

The Republican race for attorney general has so far consisted mostly of an ill-informed, ideologically driven dissection of Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley's approach to prosecuting criminals under California's three-strikes law. Cooley's critics, led by state Sen. Tom Harman (R-Huntington Beach) and former Chapman law school dean John Eastman, portray him as both rigid and softheaded on the law and suggest that he's coddling career criminals. In fact, Cooley has adamantly supported three strikes — too adamantly for our taste, as it's a woefully blunt instrument that borrows a sentencing regime from the rules of baseball.

The allegation was serious: Someone might be playing politics with Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich's personnel file from his days as a county prosecutor. Trutanich, who is campaigning to become the next district attorney, complained to state authorities last week that his file was missing and asked for an investigation into "suspicious political activity" in the district attorney's office. In his letter to the attorney general's office, Trutanich noted that Los Angeles County Dist.

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley convincingly won the GOP primary for attorney general on Tuesday, giving Republicans a strong chance at capturing the state's top law enforcement job in the November contest. His San Francisco counterpart, Dist. Atty. Kamala Harris, overcame an aggressive — and expensive — challenge in the Democratic primary as she seeks to become the first woman, first Asian and first African American to serve as attorney general. Former Los Angeles City Atty.

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley on Wednesday called for the resignation of Assessor John Noguez, whose office has been the target of a corruption probe. Cooley made the comments to reporters for several news organizations, a day after he announced that he planned to bring the case to a grand jury. "I don't think he should be there," Cooley told KNBC-TV Channel 4. "In my view, he should resign in the light of everything that's come out publicly. " Officials at the district attorney's office confirmed that Cooley would like Noguez to step down.

The allegation was serious: Someone might be playing politics with Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich's personnel file from his days as a county prosecutor. Trutanich, who is campaigning to become the next district attorney, complained to state authorities last week that his file was missing and asked for an investigation into "suspicious political activity" in the district attorney's office. In his letter to the attorney general's office, Trutanich noted that Los Angeles County Dist.

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley said Tuesday that the corruption investigation of Assessor John Noguez has grown to include multiple targets and that he intends to seek grand jury indictments in the near future. In his first public comments about the expanding criminal probe, Cooley also accused the union that represents assessor's office employees of interfering with the investigation by ordering members to refuse to cooperate without permission from Noguez's office.

Most voters have by now received their sample ballots, and those who plan to vote by mail are sending in their applications. The June 5 election is underway right now. It is noteworthy for several reasons. Los Angeles County voters will be selecting a new district attorney, and this is the first time since 1964 that there is no incumbent trying to hold onto the seat. The field is wide open. To win outright in this nonpartisan race, a candidate must get more than 50% of the vote.

Los Angeles County voters will soon select a new district attorney, and it likely will be their most consequential vote in years. It is hard to overstate the role that the top prosecutor of the nation's most populous county will have as California completely reinvents its justice system. Residents must demand a D.A. who will do his or her utmost to keep them safe, while at the same time embracing reform and ensuring smarter, and less costly, punishment and supervision of nonviolent criminals.

In an office of 1,000 trial lawyers, many of whom can be temperamental and self-centered, Jackie Lacey looks and acts like the adult in the room. It's her best asset as a candidate. Is it also her worst liability? Lacey, 55, is the chief deputy to Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley , and her task in the campaign to succeed him is to demonstrate that she has an agenda, a style and a mind of her own. Like Cooley, though, she has a low-key personality. She exhibits a certain gravitas - but also a lack, on first glance, of passion.

Steve Cooley's isn't a face that's all over YouTube or the nightly news, and he's fine with that. In spite of the celeb cases that have come through the county district attorney's office -- the decades-long case against Roman Polanski and murder cases like Phil Spector's (convicted) and Robert Blake's (acquitted, which prompted Cooley to declare him nonetheless "guilty as sin" and the jury "incredibly stupid") -- Cooley is more in Hollywood than of it. But you may be seeing more of Los Angeles County's D.A.: he's running for state attorney general.

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley continued Wednesday to cling to a lead of about 28,500 votes in the race for California attorney general, according to a Times review of website updates by all 58 counties. Cooley's margin has held relatively steady over San Francisco Dist. Atty. Kamala Harris during the last few days. The secretary of state reported late Wednesday that counties have more than 1 million ballots still to count statewide ? mostly mail-in ballots that arrived too late to be counted on election day and provisional ballots.

Many of the six candidates for Los Angeles County district attorney say they would seek out and prosecute corruption by elected officials, and it's no wonder. The pursuit of allegedly crooked pols is a winner with voters who see one example after another of politicians pushing the ethical envelope. But as an elected official, the district attorney is a politician too, and any effort he or she makes to crack down on government misconduct - or to let it be - is at least to some degree a political act. To ensure that prosecutions do not become persecutions, voters must probe deeply into the candidates' actions and attitudes.