While other candidates are qualified, Sinunu’s broad experience
makes her a clear choice on June 6
Santa Clara County Chief Assistant District Attorney Karyn Sinunu, 58, has earned our endorsement for the district attorney’s seat in the June 6 primary election.
Compared to her challengers – Superior Court Judge Dolores Carr, Deputy District Attorney Jim Shore and Assistant District Attorney Marc Buller, Sinunu is clearly the best choice for the following reasons:
Has shown she’s willing to reform a win-at-all-costs culture often cooperating with the news media in its watchdog role of the county’s justice system.
Sinunu had the decency to apologize to a wrongly convicted man. She seems genuinely interested in protecting defendants’ rights.
She’s willing to address problems related to the eyewitness identification process used by prosecutors. She helped Santa Clara County District Attorney George Kennedy implement a law four years ago that persuaded law enforcement agencies to adopt new protocols guarding against mistaken identification of suspects. The new law requires officers who don’t know the suspects’ identities to conduct the lineups and asking witnesses to view the suspects one at a time and not in a group.
She also authored the 1999 child abuse protocols for the county’s law enforcement agencies.
She has been the second in command person in the office for more than a decade, a period of grooming that will serve her well as she becomes the highest judicial authority in the county.
Has stood up with courage to the county’s law enforcement agencies in her quest for fair justice, going after cases which have revealed disturbing police practices.
Once elected, Sinunu has promised she will work hard to protect families, keep neighborhoods safe and address new types of criminal prosecution. She believes in a fair and compassionate justice system and is committed to making prosecutors ethical seekers of justice.
As district attorney, Sinunu will also work with county supervisors to creat a full-time position for an in-house legal ethics specialist, as well as a training officer who will provide legal updates to attorneys and law enforcement. Once in office, Sinunu will begin dialogue on how to continue to improve our county’s justice system. We recommend increasing training of attorneys who serve in the district attorney’s office and better supervision of the prosecution process. We also believe Sinunu should work hard to make trial evidence readily available, using computer technology to send discovery material to defense attorneys.
For all of these reasons we urge you to vote in favor of Sinunu on June 6.
