State Attorney's Office history

In California, the Office of Attorney General was created in 1850 to contend with what was considered at the time an unstructured, inadequate and inconsistent system of law enforcement.

Isaac K. Ogier, an attorney from Charleston, South Carolina, came to California as a Forty-Niner, then turned up in Los Angeles in 1851.

General Ezra Drown, a brigadier-general of the militia in Iowa, came to Los Angeles in 1853.

He was elected District Attorney in 1857.

Later, he moved to Los Angeles and entered politics, becoming superintendent of the Los Angeles City schools in 1858 and District Attorney a year later.

Then, apparently as a way to thwart his growing dependence on alcohol, in 1860 he moved to Mexico, building an adobe home with a vegetable garden and a large vineyard on a remote mesa south of Tijuana.

After another term as City Council president, Drown returned to the District Attorney’s Office again in 1861.

In 1863, the district attorney was required to collaborate with county officials in suppressing gaming.

Kewen was acquitted of assault in 1866.

205 (1867) (a case involving the State Treasurer's Office; C. Chapman and Hubbard appeared); State v.

376 (1877) (State's Attorney Hamersley represented the State in a mandamus action.)

Howard participated in California's second Constitutional Convention in 1878 that reorganized the state’s judicial branch.

In 1879, Howard and Ignacio Sepulveda were elected to serve as the first two judges of the newly formed Los Angeles Superior Court.

Before 1897 the state's attorney did handle some civil matters of a more controversial nature, such as quo warranto, mandamus, or public utility disputes.Endnote 4.

65 (1925). The Hartford State's Attorney held a Grand Jury in 1925 on medical licenses and referred cases to civil authorities.

The attorney general continued to be a sole practitioner until 1927.

In 1934, the Office had important cases involving highway suits and appeals.

By 1950 the Office had taken over all workers compensation claims of state employees -- some 3,500 active cases.

Under the County Charter of 1951, the District Attorney remained an elected office responsible for all criminal prosecutions, investigations of all major cases and maintenance of the Laboratory of Criminalistics.

The 1955 report of the Attorney General mentions an important decision on welfare collections -- the Connecticut Supreme Court had ruled support orders nondischargeable.

Jensen's successor as DA was John J. Meehan, Jensen's Chief Assistant and a career prosecutor who joined the office in 1960.

The office continued to be located on the second or third floor of the Capitol until 1964, when it moved to 30 Trinity Street.

Hoyt was succeeded as DA by J. Frank Coakley who served as District Attorney until 1969.

It was only in 1970 that the statutory reference to the Attorney General was incorporated into the State Constitution.

In 1974 the attorney general noted that 7,567 cases were pending, including 608 in federal court.

National attention was centered on Alameda County and Lowell Jensen in 1976 with the Chowchilla kidnapping case.

615 (1977) (allocation of State funds for education.) Pellegrino v.

In 1981, Lowell Jensen was appointed by President Reagan to the position of Chief of the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice.

When the legislature made the attorney general a full-time position in 1982, the salary was increased to $50,000.

Beginning in 1983, the office embarked on a program of public outreach and education.

In 1984 the office received legislative permission to conduct prosecution of "regulatory" crime.

History of the United States Attorneys Contains early histories of each district and a listing of all United States Attorneys from 1789-1989.

Meehan held the position of District Attorney until 1994.

During the fiscal year 1995-96, $27,000,000 was collected for the state treasury as a result of the office's litigation.

Orloff retired in 2009, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors appointed Nancy E. O’Malley as District Attorney.