The questions were prepared by the Leagues of Women Voters of Santa Clara County and asked of all candidates for this office.     See below for questions on , ,

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Answer from Diane Ritchie, Esq.:

As a Deputy District Attorney the most important factor in sentencing to me was protecting the safety of the public. Some of the other factors I would consider in sentencing include:

• The severity of the crime.
• The amount of premeditation and /or intent.
• The role played by the offender.
• The use of a gun.
• The level of bodily injury or financial loss.
• The identity and number of the victims. For example, if the victim(s) are elderly, children, or disabled, then I would be inclined to give a longer sentence.
• The history of the offender.
• The attitude of the offender. For example, if the offender has shown remorse, made restitution, or gone into treatment, then I would be inclined to give a shorter sentence.

• The availability of treatment.

Answer from Tim Pitsker:

For minor offenders such as drug addicts and petty thieves, the key factors are whether the person is willing to be and can be rehabilitated. If you can straighten out these minor offenders and get them out of the revolving door of the criminal justice system, then the crime rate will drop and both the offenders and society will benefit.
For serious offenders, some of the key factors are the degree of harm or injury caused by the offender to innocent victims, along with prior conduct and prior convictions.

Answer from Jay Steven Boyarsky:

I am supported by more than 20 law enforcement leaders and groups because of my record protecting the public from dangerous criminals. For me, protecting the community is protecting my family. That will be a principle value informing my decisions.

My reputation in the legal community, particularly with defense attorneys and judges, is that I am reasonable and I listen. I support drug treatment. I believe in sentencing alternatives for non-violent offenders. The criminal justice system is often ill-equipped to deal with the mentally ill and I support programs that solve problems rather than simply pass them on to other people or other times.

Prosecutors have enormous discretion in determining who to charge with a crime. My job as a prosecutor isn't to win cases but to do justice, including when that has meant rejecting or dismissing a case that was either mistakenly filed, or where subsequent investigation revealed such weaknesses in evidence that dismissal was warranted.

Because of my commitment to justice, I have widespread support from law enforcement leaders and groups because I have shown them respect and have worked with them to improve the criminal justice system through training and legislation. In addition, I have extensive support from civil rights leaders (see Question 3 below), and defense attorneys.

I will apply all of these values and principles to my role decision making as judge.

Answer from Jesús "Jess" Valencia:

To the extent permitted by law, the factors, principles and values which I will consider in reaching my decisions are the following: The seriousness of the crime; the impact on the victim(s); the defendant's criminal history; the defendant's remorse, admission and willingness to accept responsibility; proportionality between crime and punishment; potential for rehabilitation; defendant's socio-economic history; weighing social cost of incarceration versus treatment programs and other options; and the sentencing practices of other judges and jurisdictions.

Answer from Lane Liroff:

Public safety will always be utmost in any decision I will make as a judge to sentence a criminal. Otherwise, I am interested in sentencing alternatives which help rehabilitate offenders. I believe that punishment which does not prevent future crimes is costly and unwise.

Answer from Diane Ritchie, Esq.:

My broad experience with both civil and criminal law makes me uniquely qualified to be Superior Court judge. I have practiced law in Santa Clara County for twenty- seven years, acted as a mediator and as a temporary judge with the Superior Court. I have handled more than a thousand cases including hundreds of bench and jury trials. As a Deputy District Attorney, I prosecuted criminals including child molesters in Santa Clara County. As a civil attorney I have represented clients in many areas of law, from labor and employment law and discrimination, to family law, real estate, personal injury, landlord/ tenant, education, and class actions.

I have represented employees who were not paid overtime in class actions including:

• Mynaf v. Taco Bell which settled during trial for a total of thirteen million dollars; and

• Haley v. Wendy's which settled for over one million dollars prior to discovery.

I was the Supervising Attorney for the Employment Law Unit of the Legal Aid Society of Santa Clara County. I represented low income workers including day laborers and hotel maids, in labor and employment disputes. Even after the Legal Aid Society lost funding and was no longer able to support the Employment Law Unit, I continued to work on a Pro Bono basis in order to complete a number of cases including:

• Valdovinos v. Torres where I represented day laborers against their employer for unpaid wages, minimum wage violations and overtime wages. We pursued the employer and his daughter through bankruptcy to obtain payment; and

• (Confidential Settlement) I represented Russian hotel maids before the Labor Commissioner against two nationwide hotel chains and the agency that provided the maids to the hotels. Our claim was for unpaid wages, minimum wage violations, and overtime wages. I was able to obtain payment for my clients and to assist the United States Department of Labor in obtaining payment for thousands of maids nationwide.

I also represent union workers with California School Employees Association.

In another type of case, I represented students who had been discriminated against and harassed on the basis of sexual orientation, in Flores v. Morgan Hill Unified School District. The case settled for 1.1 million dollars in damages and injunctive relief including new sexual orientation harassment policies, practices, training, and reporting.

Here are some of my endorsements:

"Diane Ritchie is dedicated to public safety. Her integrity and fairness will help guide her decisions on the bench. Please consider Diane Ritchie when you vote this June." Dolly Sandoval, Mayor of Cupertino.

"Diane Ritchie has dedicated her professional career to the pursuit of justice. She has the skills and qualities we need in a judge: integrity, intelligence, dedication, and compassion. She will make an excellent judge for the people of Santa Clara County." Manuel Valerio, Former Mayor of Sunnyvale.

"Diane is tough and hardworking. She has integrity, character and experience." Police Detective Melissa Centeno.

"Diane will be a firm but fair judge." Spec. Deputy United States Marshall Chris Haddad.

Answer from Jesús "Jess" Valencia:

As an experienced Court Commissioner, I have handled some of the court's busiest criminal calendars and conducted hundreds of traffic and small claims court bench trials. I have completed Superior Court assignments handling thousands of misdemeanor arraignments, violations of probation and sentencing matters. I have experience handling juvenile delinquency and dependency proceedings. I have 20 years of legal experience practicing both civil and criminal law. As a lawyer, I represented victims of crime as well as those accused of wrongdoing. I have felony trial experience and complex civil litigation experience.

Answer from Lane Liroff:

In both state and federal courts I have successfuly tried civil and criminal cases, litigated significant pre-trial motions, and argued cases in the appellate courts.

For the last twenty-five years my focus has been the prosecution of complex criminal cases, against the most dangerous crimals. I have tried over 110 jury trials--including 40 homicide jury trials. My prosecutions include a cop killer, witness killings, child killers and sexual predators. I helped convict killers who belonged to organizations which perpetrated hate crimes against minorities.

At the same time I contributed to the legal profession by helping author seven books on criminal law, ethics and trial procedures.

I was a law school professor for 18 years and currently I am on the adjunct faculty at San Jose State University where I have taught law enforcement officers for 15 years.

I was recruited to work for the Justice Department as a consultant to Attorney General Janet Reno regarding the prosecution of federal murder cases.

Answer from Tim Pitsker:

For the last 24 years I have been a prosecutor working for Santa Clara County. Prior to that I spent a year with the Contra Costa District Attorney's Office. With over 100 felony trials, I have taken more felons to trial than any other prosecutor working for Santa Clara County. I spent 7 years handling complex gang and career criminal cases, some of Santa Clara County's worst criminals. One of the two most important gang cases to come out of Santa Clara County was my case, People v. Gardeley, in which the California Supreme Court upheld the convictions in 1996. The case is important in teaching prosecutors how to successfully prosecute gang cases.
I was the first prosecutor in Santa Clara County to use DNA evidence in a jury trial. In that case, the victim's blood was successfully matched with blood found on the defendant's shoe.
I am also the first prosecutor to successfully prosecute a Norteno Gang Case occurring in the Santa Clara County main jail. With the "code of silence" and fear of retaliation from gangs, it is difficult to prosecute gang cases from the jail. I am currently working in drug treatment court trying to get drug addicts into programs so they can be rehabilitated. If the drug offenders are successful in completing the program then their cases are dismissed and hopefully we will not see them again in the criminal justice system.
I have civil experience as a judge ProTem (volunteer)helping out in small claims court.

Answer from Jay Steven Boyarsky:

As a Deputy District Attorney for the past 14 years, I have prosecuted or supervised thousands of criminal cases over the course of my criminal justice career. I am specially assigned to Hate Crime prosecutions, and was Supervisor of the North County Division (encompassing the cities of Sunnyvale, Palo Alto, Mountain View, Stanford University and other areas) for over five years where I oversaw nearly 20% of the 40,000 criminal cases filed annually in Santa Clara County.

I helped pass Maricela's Law to protect women and children from sexual predators. I also have civil law experience at a major law firm, and was a federal clerk for the late Judge William Ingram at the United States District Court.

I have dedicated hundreds of hours assisting public safety organizations, protecting crime victims, and working toward a hate-free community for all.

I earned my law degree from the prestigious UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law, and my Bachelor degree from UC Santa Cruz.

Answer from Lane Liroff:

I pledge to be be fair and unbiased. I will always strive to know the law and listen to those who appear before me. Everyone will be treated with dignity and respect. Cases should be decided based on the evidence and the law.

Answer from Diane Ritchie, Esq.:

I will actively support elimination of bias training for judges and court personnel, stronger policies, and practices, and I will not tolerate discrimination or harassment in my court room. For the last nineteen years, I have fought against discrimination and harassment, both in employment and education. I have handled more than a thousand cases on behalf of victims of discrimination and harassment. I have never tolerated discrimination or harassment in my law office.

As a woman I will bring diversity to help balance the bench. 75% of the Superior Court judges in Santa Clara County are men. 77% of the Superior Court judges in California are white men (see League of Women Voters web page at http://ca.lwv.org/lwvc.files/judic/#gender). It is important to have more minority and women judges.

Please see my website at http://www.dianeritchieforjudge.com for further information.

Answer from Jesús "Jess" Valencia:

Yes. Judicial officers are required to undergo Elimination of Bias and Ethics training each year. I believe this training is critical and integral to the administration of justice. A judge must set the example of treating everyone in our diverse community with respect and dignity. Judges must be constantly vigiliant to ensure the elimination of both actual and perceived bias. I strongly support this policy and would work within the courts to ensure the policy is continuously revised, expanded and updated to account for demographic changes in the cultural, ethnic, religious and gender diversity of our community.

Answer from Jay Steven Boyarsky:

My commitment to diversity and inclusiveness consists of not only my assignment to handle Hate Crimes as a Deputy District Attorney and my extensive work with civil rights organizations, but also my personal efforts as a member of the Board of Directors of the Anti-Defamation League, Central Pacific Region.

Due to my extensive efforts to eliminate bias in the criminal justice system, I am immensely proud to be supported by civil rights leaders from the NAACP, BAYMEC, the ADL, and numerous other individuals committed to the protection of civil liberties.

I will extend my professional and personal dedication to the elimination of bias in the legal system to my role as judge in every way possible.

Answer from Tim Pitsker:

To quote Justice Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, "OUR MISSION IS TO SERVE THOSE WHO APPEAR BEFORE US. IF WE CAN DO THAT WELL, QUICKLY AND WITHOUT COMMOTION, WE'VE DONE THE BEST THAT CAN BE DONE".
My goal is to live up to Justice Kozinski's standard and if I do so, then I will have done the best that I can do.
In my court all people will be treated equally and with respect. I will have zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind.

The order of the candidates is random and changes daily. Candidates who did not respond are not listed on this page.