Kamala Harris as courtroom prosecutor
Joel B. Pollack asks a question: “Say, Has Kamala Ever Led a Prosecution?”:
Former Trump administration Department of Justice official Jeff Clark said Wednesday that he cannot find evidence that Vice President Kamala Harris ever personally led the prosecution of a single case at the local or state level.
“I’m looking to see whether she actually ‘first-chaired’ a trial, ever,” Clark told The Charlie Kirk Show on the Real America’s Voice network. …
Clark notes that he might have to do some research in person at courthouses to get an answer to this, but do note that Harris has admittedly exaggerated the number of cases she handled in the past, too.
I leave it to him to do the courthouse digging. But I’ve done some online sleuthing about this question and a while back I discovered this ABC story on the subject. Unfortunately, it doesn’t answer the question either, but it certainly discusses it in some depth. An excerpt:
In 2003, during Kamala Harris’ run for San Francisco district attorney, her campaign sent out mailers promoting her candidacy that touted her record as a prosecutor with “thirteen years of courtroom experience.”
The mailers, copies of which ABC News has obtained, portrayed Harris as “the veteran prosecutor we need to turn around our District Attorney office” and claimed she had a “long track record of being an outstanding public prosecutor.”
“Kamala has tried hundreds of serious and violent felonies, including homicide, rape, and child sexual assault cases,” the mailer stated.
But in a debate with her opponent, who challenged her on that, she said she had tried “about fifty cases.” My guess is that that number is much closer to the number she’s actually tried, in terms of Clark’s current question. But it would be nice to know.
I also looked for articles from the time period when she would have been a trial prosecutor. I found this one from August of 2000, which doesn’t exactly answer the question either but has a lot of information that might be relevant, such as:
One of the top prosecutors who led a failed revolt in San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan’s office resigned yesterday, saying she was saddened and disenchanted by Hallinan’s administration.
“I’ve become disillusioned and disappointed with the top leadership of the district attorney’s office,” said Kamala Harris, who is among a small exodus of prosecutors angered by the management style of Hallinan’s second in command, Darrell Salomon.
“Based on my number of years as a prosecutor, the bulk of which came in a very well-managed district attorney’s office in Alameda County, I thought I would be able to come to San Francisco and add value to the work of the office,” said Harris, a 10-year prosecutor who headed the career criminal prosecution unit for Hallinan.
Especially relevant might be this:
Harris, 35, was praised by police, prosecutors and defense attorneys as an experienced lawyer who could handle complex cases as well as be a role model for younger prosecutors.
“She’s an incredible lawyer, with great courtroom skills and a sense of justice tempered by compassion,” said Jim Collins, a veteran defense attorney. …
Al Giannini, a longtime homicide prosecutor in Hallinan’s office, called Harris “a highly skilled professional, hard-working trial lawyer.”
Sounds like she certainly has had some trial experience.
So the question is why has she sounded like an idiot the entire last four years? It’s not just dodging her past policy positions since getting the nomination. She had the word salad sessions many times before that.
jvermeer:
I have a working theory on that, and hope to write a post about it tomorrow or maybe Monday.
They could be just talking up a collegue to the press to keep a good working relationship for future cases and the like. Plus by then it was probably known within those circles that her star was on the rise. This was 2000 and I imagine it was probably well known that she was Willie Brown’s ah… protege and perhaps even an anointed successor?
“…the last four years…”
Yer being extraordinarily kind here….
(Though I would agree that one should always strive to give people the benefit of the doubt…)
I’d suspect Nonapod is closer to the truth…or she could be those two guys’ “side-piece.” Like when Brown was out of town.
I’m with Nonapod on this: who wants to bad-mouth the Mayor’s main squeeze? Her entire career seems to me to revolve around people giving her the benefit of the doubt, and that could well be because she has friends in high places.
This looks like a dry hole to me. She was an assistant district attorney for what, 10+ years? I think she also had a few Willie Brown-appointed board positions at the time, but it’s tough to avoid trying cases when you’re an ADA. There’s also a distinction between handling a case that is resolved short of trial (e.g., plea, charges dropped, etc.) and actually taking a case to trial. The number of cases that she has handled is certainly significantly higher than the number that she has taken to trial.
My guess is that someone sympathetic to Harris got this rumor started as bubba bait for Trump to try to get him to attack here as a fake prosecutor because she only actually tried 50 cases, and look like a fool doing it. If so, they’ve already succeeded in getting Hot air to pick it up. The line is cast. We’ll see if he takes the bait.
@ Bauxite:
I’m not so sure. The lack of any sort of commentary on cases she worked as an ADA says a lot. Somebody with a point to prove should be able to point to a certain notorious case, yet there are none.
The only point of contention I recall about her time as a prosecutor is some interview where she cackled about prosecuting marijuana cases while partaking herself.
All that time, all that caseload, and there’s not one claim to fame?
Bauxite-
You must be a fly-fisher, “The line is cast”. Otherwise, one casts a bait or a lure, achieving considerably greater casting distances.
Yes she’s a fraud all the way
There must evidence in the dog trainer in the chronicle you would think where is it?
So one seems to want to actually investigate the matter covering with a pillow