The San Diego District Attorney’s Office: An Insider’s View

Featured Speaker: Cheryl Sueing-Jones, J.D.

This lecture will describe how the criminal justice
system really works including the organization of
the district attorney’s office, prosecutorial decision
making, the distinction between misdemeanors
and felonies and what determines whether a case
will progress from arrest to trial. What percentage
of cases actually go to trial as opposed to being
resolved by plea bargaining? Does the district
attorney have both criminal and civil jurisdiction in
particular subject areas? What diversion procedures
exist for different types of defendants and when will
a grand jury be involved in the process? Be prepared
to appreciate that there are lot of pieces to this very
complicated puzzle!

Presenter Biography

As Deputy District Attorney in the San
Diego District Attorney’s Office for over 27 years,
Cheryl Sueing-Jones has prosecuted hundreds of
cases ranging from misdemeanors to murders.
She now serves on a small team of Deputy
D.A.’s as Community Partnership Prosecutors
(CPP). These prosecutors perform community
outreach, developing initiatives to prevent crime
from happening in the first place. She has a B.A.
from Spelman College and a J.D. from UC San
Francisco College of Law.

Coordinator: Michael Lipman