DA PACHECO TAPS CHUCK HUGHES TO ASSISTANT DA POST,
ANNOUNCES PROMOTIONS

RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA, December 4, 2007: District Attorney Rod Pacheco tapped Chief Deputy District Attorney Chuck Hughes to be his new Assistant District Attorney. Hughes will be in charge of the Western Criminal Division located in Riverside and covering the Western region of Riverside County.

Dianna Carter was promoted to Chief Deputy District Attorney and Kamaria Henry promoted to Supervising Deputy District Attorney. Otis Sterling from the Indio District Attorney's Office was also promoted to Supervising Deputy District Attorney.

"These individuals are experienced professionals dedicated to developing talented lawyers and leading our office into the future," Pacheco said.

Chuck Hughes received his Bachelor's Degree in Sociology from the University of California Los Angeles and his law degree from UCLA School of Law. Hughes began his career in the district attorney's office in 1994.

His trial experience includes 45 felony jury trials resulting in 25 life sentences. He prosecuted 14 murder trials while assigned to the Homicide Unit including 3 multiple jury trials. Hughes was promoted to Supervising Deputy District Attorney in 2005 and in 2006 promoted to Chief Deputy District Attorney currently assigned to the Administrative Division.

Hughes will oversee operations in the Western Criminal Division.

During the past month, Hughes has been engaged in the death penalty trial of People v. Justin Thomas and is awaiting the jury's verdict in that case.

Dianna Carter received a Bachelor's Degree in Speech Communication from Colorado State University in 1982 and a Master's Degree in Speech Communication in 1985. She received her law degree from Boalt Hall School of Law from the University of California Berkeley in 1989.

Carter joined the district attorney's office in 1989 where she became the first member of that division's homicide team and completed two death penalty trials. In 2001, she was named Riverside County Prosecutor of the Year. Since 2003, Carter has been a Supervising Deputy District Attorney in both the Eastern and Western Criminal Divisions.

Carter will be Chief Deputy District Attorney assigned to the Special Prosecutions Section.

Kamaria Henry is a graduate of Loyola Law School and received her Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from the University of California Los Angeles. She joined the Riverside County District Attorney's Office in 2003. She was formerly a prosecutor for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

Henry has tried 21 felony trials in Riverside County and most recently assigned to the Gangs Unit. While a prosecutor in Los Angeles County, she tried 17 felony trials including murder, home invasion robbery, assault, and criminal threat cases.

Henry will supervise the Court Operations Misdemeanor Trial Team in Riverside.

Otis Sterling is a graduate of J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University where he also received his Bachelor's Degree in English and Communications. He has been a Riverside County prosecutor since 2002. He was named Felony Prosecutor of the Year in 2003 and 2006. Sterling has tried 31 felony trials including 5 homicide cases. He is currently assigned to the Joseph Duncan case who is accused of killing 10-year-old Anthony Martinez of Beaumont in 1997.

Sterling will be a Supervising Deputy District Attorney in the Eastern Criminal Division.