DA TAPS SARA DANVILLE TO ASSISTANT DA POST

RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA, March 14, 2007: District Attorney Rod Pacheco tapped Chief Deputy District Attorney Sara Danville to be his new Assistant District Attorney. Danville will be in charge of the Western Criminal Division located in Riverside and covering the Western region of Riverside County.

"Ms. Danville is an incredibly experienced and accomplished prosecutor. Our community is fortunate to have her dedicated service," Pacheco said.

Sara Danville, 42, of Riverside, received her bachelor's degrees from Sam Houston State University in Texas and her law degree from Santa Clara University. While attending college, she was a state correctional officer in Huntsville, Texas. Danville began her career in the district attorney's office as a law clerk in 1988.

Her trial experience includes more than 80 jury trials including three death penalty cases, 27 murder trials, and countless other jury trials. In 1996, Danville was named Felony Prosecutor of the Year and in 2002, Prosecutor of the Year. Prosecutor of the Year is the highest award given to any prosecutor in Riverside County. She received this award for prosecuting four murder trials.

The case of People v. Diaz involved a provocative act murder, a difficult and complex legal theory. She resurrected a 17-year-old murder case of People v. Van Pelt in which the defendant was ultimately sentenced to the death penalty. Danville also tried the case of People v. Ford, a multiple personality defendant, and convicted the defendant in People v. Nia involving a shooting at a shoe store located in the Tyler Galleria.

In 2005, Danville was promoted to Supervising Deputy District Attorney and supervised the Special Prosecutions Section. She was next promoted to Chief Deputy District Attorney in July, 2006 and was in charge of the Major Crimes Division including the Gang and Homicide Units. During her tenure, Danville oversaw the investigation and prosecution of the Esperanza Fire case in which Raymond Lee Oyler is charged in the deaths of five firefighters.

She also led the team of prosecutors in the largest ever warrant sweep in Riverside County. 662 officers from 33 law enforcement agencies from five Southern California counties executed 63 search and arrest warrants on two rival gangs. The operation netted 39 gang members arrested, 36 guns seized, $17,000 cash confiscated, as well as illegal drugs. A sophisticated identity theft ring involving 52 victims was also broken up as a result of the operation.

Sara and her husband, a mortgage lender and nationally recognized athlete, live in the city of Riverside.