DISTRICT ATTORNEY ROD PACHECO
APPOINTED TO CALIFORNIA DISTRICT ATTORNEYS ASSOCIATION POST

RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA, February 13, 2007: District Attorney Rod Pacheco has been appointed Chairman of the California District Attorneys Association Capital Litigation Committee. Pacheco officially began his duties at the recent California District Attorneys Association Winter Conference.

As Chairman of the committee, Pacheco will serve in a leadership capacity to define capital punishment issues, formulate policies, develop strategies on death penalty cases, and draft and advocate legislation affecting prosecutors throughout California.

"The California District Attorneys Association is fortunate to have someone who has the capital litigation experience that District Attorney Rod Pacheco has as chair of this important committee," said Jerry Shea, President of the California District Attorneys Association.

"I'm honored to be serving on this committee focusing on the very important issue of capital punishment in California. Our goal is to expedite the process. The families of these homicide victims have waited long enough for justice to be served," Pacheco said.

As a deputy district attorney, Rod Pacheco specialized in homicide and death penalty cases. Five of those murderers were sent to California's death row.

Among them is Teofilo Medina who in 1984 embarked on a crime spree of four cold blooded murders. Medina committed three robbery murders of young men in Orange County. He then shot and killed an 18-year-old gas station attendant in Corona who was working to save enough money to go to college.

Medina was convicted of the three murders in Orange County and received three separate death sentences for those crimes. Pacheco then convicted Medina in the Corona murder case and Medina received his fourth death sentence.

In 1991, Pacheco convicted gang leader Michael Jones for the robbery murder of a Domino's Pizza store manager in Riverside and numerous other robberies and attempted murders that spanned a year and a half. Jones reason for the robbery and killing was that he needed money to pay for the admission charge to a party. Jones was sentenced to the death penalty.

Pacheco convicted parolee Frank Carter in 1995 for the robbery and torture murder of his 58-year-old landlady. When she came to collect the rent, Carter stabbed her more than 30 times and then fled the scene. The jury in the end voted for the death penalty.

Two other inmates, Andrew Lamont Brown and Gregory Demetrulias, are on California's death row due to the successful prosecution efforts of Rod Pacheco.

Pacheco was sworn in as Riverside County District Attorney on January 2, 2007. He leads the third largest district attorney's office in California and the 13th largest office in the United States with a staff of almost 800 employees, including 256 prosecutors.

Pacheco earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1980 at the University of California Riverside and in 1983 earned his law degree at the University of San Diego Law School.

The California District Attorneys Association is an organization comprised exclusively of prosecutors with more than 2500 members. It plays a significant role in the formulation of statewide policy and legislation affecting prosecutors. The mission of CDAA is to serve the needs and to promote the interests of California's prosecutors. The headquarters is located in Sacramento, California.