Steve Cooley

Alan Jackson, a veteran Los Angeles County prosecutor whose bid to become district attorney ended in defeat in November, is leaving the district attorney's office to join a private, downtown firm that practices civil law. Jackson, 47, said his last day in the office he sought to lead will be Feb. 15. He will pursue a career as a civil litigator with Palmer, Lombardi and Donohue, whose three partners were political supporters of his election campaign....

Los Angeles County prosecutors failed to present grand jurors with evidence favorable to Irwindale officials before seeking an indictment in connection with lavish business trips that city officials took to New York, a panel of state appellate justices said Thursday. The appeals court panel threw out the embezzlement counts against four Irwindale officials, who prosecutors said enjoyed meals at pricey restaurants, attended Broadway shows and saw baseball games paid for by the city during trips to meet with bond raters in an effort to obtain better bond ratings.

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...

Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich offers an explanation for why his reelection challenger has racked up the lion's share of endorsements as the May 21 runoff approaches: "He's part of the old-boys club; he's a career politician and I'm independent. " But former lawmaker Mike Feuer points to the backing he's received from hundreds of elected officials - including both of California's U.S. senators - civic and other groups, environmental organizations, labor, law and community leaders as evidence of "a clear desire for change" in the city's top legal post.

The landmark 1963 Supreme Court decision in Brady vs. Maryland requires that prosecutors turn over to defense attorneys any evidence that could help a defendant prove his innocence and prevent a miscarriage of justice. Making sure that "exculpatory" evidence is shared with the defense is fundamental to a fair trial. The Los Angeles County district attorney's office under Steve Cooley has been known for the seriousness with which it takes the Brady requirement. A decade ago, in the aftermath of the LAPD's Rampart scandal, Cooley convened a group of experts, including defense attorneys, and carefully worked out a policy to address the treatment of Brady material.

Even when Danette Meyers lost a case -- a few weeks ago -- she won. The Metropolitan News-Enterprise brought a California Public Records Act action to compel Meyers to release her personnel records, and she fought it, she said, on principle. The judge reviewed the file in chambers and, based on what she saw, she ruled for the newspaper -- because Meyers' record was so “stellar” there was no good reason to keep it out of public view. The judge's explanation almost amounted to an endorsement, and Meyers has in fact used it in her campaign materials.

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.

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.

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.

Democrats completed a clean sweep of California's statewide offices Wednesday as Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley conceded the race for attorney general, ending weeks of uncertainty in one of the closest statewide elections in California history. With the number of uncounted ballots dwindling and his rival's lead at more than 50,000 votes, Cooley telephoned San Francisco Dist. Atty. Kamala Harris early Wednesday to congratulate the Democratic victor. Cooley's loss delivered yet another blow to state Republicans reeling from their failure to capture the governor's mansion or a U.S. Senate seat.

Alan Jackson, a veteran Los Angeles County prosecutor whose bid to become district attorney ended in defeat in November, is leaving the district attorney's office to join a private, downtown firm that practices civil law. Jackson, 47, said his last day in the office he sought to lead will be Feb. 15. He will pursue a career as a civil litigator with Palmer, Lombardi and Donohue, whose three partners were political supporters of his election campaign....

It's a tidy coincidence that Jackie Lacey, newly elected as Los Angeles County's first female and first African American district attorney, is a graduate of the city's Susan Miller Dorsey High School, named for L.A.'s first female schools superintendent. Lacey was sworn in in December, and she's now ensconced in the D.A.'s offices on the criminal courthouse's 18th floor, where her picture will join those of 160 years' worth of white men who've held the title, among them Gen. George S. Patton's father.

A federal civil jury has rejected claims that retired Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley violated the civil rights of two former leaders of the union that represents county prosecutors when they were transferred to other positions within the district attorney's office. One of Cooley's lawyers hailed the verdict in the long-running dispute as an important legal victory, saying jurors took about 11/2 hours to conclude that the then-district attorney and his office reassigned the prosecutors for legitimate management reasons.

He waged an insurgent campaign against his boss to become Los Angeles County district attorney, promising to act as a prosecutor not a politician. Twelve years later, Steve Cooley retired last week as one of the county's most entrenched political fixtures, having served a historic tenure as top prosecutor, reshaped the most powerful office in the local criminal justice system and left his mark on California law enforcement. Cooley is widely credited with expanding the way law enforcement uses DNA and with making the fight against local public corruption a priority.

A fundraiser put on by heavyweights in Los Angeles' liberal-leaning environmental community should have been a tough crowd for Kevin James. But James, affable, polite and the only Republican candidate in a Los Angeles mayoral race dominated by City Hall Democrats, had no trouble chatting up guests as he made his way around the crowded event for the Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters. Richard Mueller, an executive with a multinational manufacturer, and Dave Alba, his business partner, seemed happy to corner him. The men spent several minutes outlining a massive freight automation project they are hoping to bring to San Pedro - a tough sell in labor-friendly L.A. They were at the party hoping to line up support for the project.

As a junior at UC Irvine in 1978, Jackie Lacey was featured in a Seventeen magazine article profiling 13 young women. The first in her family to go to college, she had recently switched her career plan from being a grade school teacher to a lawyer. "I can do more in the legal process to help people," Lacey, then 21, told the magazine. "I've seen so many black people cheated by tradesmen or intimidated by the police because they have no knowledge of their legal rights. I'd like to help change that.

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley said Tuesday that he would not run for a fourth term as the county's top prosecutor, ending intense speculation and setting the stage for the most competitive district attorney's race in more than a decade. Cooley had remained coy for months about his political future and his decision promises to have a dramatic effect on the 2012 election campaign, which features several candidates who had promised to pull out if Cooley ran again. Cooley told The Times that many of his law enforcement supporters encouraged him to seek reelection but that he decided instead to help Chief Deputy Dist.

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.

Veteran prosecutor Jackie Lacey led in early voting returns Tuesday in her bid to become Los Angeles County's first African American and first female district attorney, building a commanding advantage over her rival, Deputy Dist. Atty. Alan Jackson. Lacey was widely viewed as the favorite in the nonpartisan race after finishing first in the June primary and boasting the support of her boss, Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, who is retiring after a historic three terms. The early count for the two-candidate runoff included mail-in ballots turned in before election day and more than 40% of precincts reporting votes cast at the polls.

Jackie Lacey's election as district attorney is a historic moment for Los Angeles, making her the first woman and first African American selected to head the largest local prosecutorial office in the nation. But her stewardship is unlikely to represent a dramatic departure from that of her boss, current Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, who supported her campaign. Lacey, 55, has pledged to continue Cooley's initiatives, such as the office's focus on public corruption prosecutions. She echoed his support of reforming California's three-strikes law through Proposition 36 - the initiative's approach largely mirrored the existing policy in the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.