Tony Rackauckas

Anthony Joseph Rackauckas, Jr. (born March 18 1943) is the current District Attorney of Orange County, California and a former Superior Court judge. He was elected on June 2 1998 and is serving his third term in office.

Military service, social work, and education

Rackauckas served in the United States Army as a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division from 1962–1964. After completing his service in the army, he attended California State University, Long Beach from 1964–1968 while simultaneously serving in the United States Army Reserve. After earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from CSULB in 1968, Rackauckas attended Loyola Law School while simultaneously serving as a social worker in the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services. He graduated from Loyola in 1971, earning his Juris Doctor degree.

Early legal career

In 1972, Rackauckas left the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services to become a Deputy District Attorney in the Orange County District Attorney's Office, where he served until leaving in 1988 to enter private practice. While in private practice, Rackauckas authored Proposition 115, which appeared on the June 1990 ballot.

Judicial career

Rackauckas left private practice in 1990 when he was appointed by California Governor George Deukmejian to be a Municipal Court judge. Rackauckas served as a municipal court judge until March 1993, when Governor Pete Wilson appointed him a Superior Court judge, a post in which he served until becoming District Attorney of Orange County.

District Attorney elections

Rackauckas won the support of 64% of Orange County voters in the June 1998 election for District Attorney against Deputy District Attorney Wally Wade and took office in January 1999. He won the support of 62% of the voters in a March 2002 rematch with Wade. He was unopposed in his June 2006 bid for a third consecutive term, winning 100% of the vote.

DNA evidence

Rackauckas' recent focus on the use of DNA evidence to solve crimes has met with criticism by Orange County's own forensic science lab, as he plans to outsource the DNA profiling to a private lab outside of the county—a service the county lab already provides (however, the private lab provides turnaround times of 10-14 days while the county lab turnaround time is four months). [cite news | last=Lowe | first=Peggy | publisher="The Orange County Register" | url=http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/healthscience/abox/article_1550844.php | title=Evidence of delay | date=2007-01-21] In 2007, plans were announced to create a local DNA database containing the DNA profiles of the perpetrators of petty crimes. [cite news | last=Santana | first=Norberto, Jr | date=2007-01-23 | url=http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1552646.php | title=County supevisors OK DNA crime tracking program | publisher="The Orange County Register"] The suspect-less unknown profiles from crime scenes will be compared against the profiles obtained from the DNA profiles of anyone who pleads guilty to a crime in Orange County as a condition of probation or a plea bargain.

References

External links

* [http://www.orangecountyda.com/home/index.asp?page=383 Official District Attorney biography]
* [http://www.ocdistrictattorney.com/ Official campaign web site]