Candidate for
Judge, Superior Court; County of Los Angeles; Office 84

Lori~Ann Jones

Los Angles County Court Commissioner Lori-Ann Jones has made the law her life, and ascending to a Los Angeles County Superior Court judgeship will be the next natural step.

Jones, 46, is a virtually life-long resident of the Los Angeles area. She attended elementary school in Carson, junior high in Gardena, St. Mary's Academy in Inglewood and George Washington Prep School in South Los Angeles. Then she attended and graduated from Loyola Marymount University in Westchester, after which she left Los Angeles for Sacramento, where she attended McGeorge School of Law.

From 1989 to 2005, Lori served as a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney. She prosecuted hard-core gang and domestic abuse cases, among other disputes.

"She was fearless," Greta B. Walker, a supervisor, told the Daily Journal not long ago. "There's not a case she was afraid to try."

"I loved being in the gang unit," Lori told the paper. "I felt like, but for the grace of God, I would have been a gang member."

Lori's prosecution of a longtime prostitute who worked even though she was diagnosed with the AIDS virus was the subject of a Los Angeles Times story in 2002. Lori considered filing attempted murder charges against the woman. But knowing that a judge was unlikely to let her do so, Jones refused to plea bargain -- as is usually the case with solicitation charges -- and instead she sought a longer sentence of up to nine years in prison. The woman eventually went to state prison.

"She doesn't care," Jones told the Times then. "It's like she's someone walking around with a loaded gun on her hip, indiscriminately shooting people. She knows when she goes and stands on the corner she could pass on the AIDS virus."

Lori's father, Charles Jones, was a Los Angeles Unified School District police officer who had pull on the street in the family's neighborhood. He and his closest friends, many of whom also were in law enforcement, persuaded local toughs to keep Lori and her siblings safe. "I grew up with a gun on the table and gang members walking me home," she told the Daily Journal.

Her father also owned a liquor store in the area, where Lori worked weekends until she left for college.

In 2006, she was selected by county judges from scores of applicants to become a court commissioner. Commissioners do essentially what judges do, though their positions are more tenuous. Nonetheless, she has earned much kudos among attorneys who have come before her. "She was very, very fair," Deputy District Attorney Bobby Zoumberakis told the Daily Journal.

Deputy Alternative Public Defender Frederick Madsen described Lori to the paper in similar terms. "She actually knew what she was doing," he said. "She was quite thorough in...questioning both sides...She didn't just shoot from the hip."

Lori wants to become a judge in part because she wants to improve the experience the public has when in contact with their local judicial system. "I want to be a judge so that I can assure the community that each time they have a reason to come to a courthouse in L.A. County, they will be treated fairly and with respect by a judge who is an expert in the law and its proper application," Lori told the Los Angeles Times four years ago.

"I have a strong commitment to public service and justice and I am concerned about society, safety and the well-being of our citizens," she added.

Lori, a Los Angeles resident, is divorced, a single mother of a precocious 10-year-old. She also is the proud owner of a champion show dog, Eli. She serves on the Board of Directors of Tessie Cleveland Community Service Corporation, a family-centered mental health organization serving children from birth to 18 years of age. And she is an active member of the Black Women Lawyers' Association of Los Angeles, the Langston Bar Association, the California Judges Assn. and the California Court Commissioners Assn.