Lori Frugoli Elected Marin County's New District Attorney

MARIN COUNTY, CA – Marin County Deputy District Attorney Lori Frugoli was elected as the county's new district attorney, according to complete unofficial election results early this morning.

Frugoli, 61, a Marin County prosecutor for 28 years, defeated Anna Pletcher, 44, a former attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice in San Francisco.

With Frugoli's election, the district attorneys of all four North Bay counties – Napa, Solano, Sonoma and now Marin – are women.

Frugoli, got 51.92 percent and Fletcher received 47.87 percent of the vote. They were the top two contenders in the June primary election but neither received more than 50 percent of the vote, forcing a November runoff.

Frugoli cited her four decades of experience in the justice system as a police officer, sheriff's deputy, attorney and prosecutor.

"Community trust and transparency are the cornerstones of my platform. The community deserves to see the faces and hear the voices of the employees of my office," Frugoli said.

Frugoli said she would prosecute doctors who recklessly over-prescribe opioid drugs, increase money for local sexual assault examinations, aggressively prosecute financial and physical abuse of seniors and support a Veterans Court to provide services and resources to veterans.

Frugoli had the support of retiring District Attorney Ed Berberian and his predecessors since 1979.

Pletcher is a former law professor at the University of California at Berkeley and University of California Hastings College of Law. She said she prosecuted white-collar crimes for 10 years at the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division in San Francisco and was the only candidate with
management experience capable of managing an $18 million budget with 80 employees.

She said her top priority would be bringing rape kit exams back to Marin County instead of traumatizing victims by outsourcing the exams to Napa Solano SANE SMART in Vallejo.

The issue prompted Berberian to publicly challenge Pletcher's statement regarding the exams.

"No one is forcing a rape victim to travel anywhere for these examinations and none will be conducted without their willingness to have such an examination," Berberian said.

Berberian said Marin-based hospitals were faced with both unacceptable wait times and examiners without the best forensic experience, resulting in courtroom challenges to their expertise.

Pletcher also said family violence victims face disconnected support services in dozens of locations, and a one-stop Family Justice Center is needed in the county to provide help and hope to survivors and their families.

Pletcher also supported reforming the cash bail system and expanding the focus on prevention and rehabilitation in a restorative justice diversion system.

By Bay City News Service / Image via Shutterstock