League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Santa Clara County, CA June 3, 2008 Election
	Tim Pitsker Answers Questions Candidate for Judge - Superior Court; County of Santa Clara; Office 8

The questions were prepared by the Leagues of Women Voters of Santa Clara County and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. As a judge, you may be called on to impose sentences for crimes ranging from misdemeanors to homicide. While there are sentencing parameters and guidelines, you will have latitude. What factors and principles/values will affect your decisions?

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.

2. Please describe your experience in civil and criminal cases.

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.

3. Would you propose any changes to assure that there is no appearance of bias in the courtroom including, but not limited to, bias based on disability, gender identity, age, race, religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation?

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.

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' responses are not edited or corrected by the League.

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: May 6, 2008 12:27
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