Crime & Safety

Challenger to DA Zellerbach Pounding the Campaign Trail

Thursday night in Corona, approximately 50 guests reportedly turned out at a resident's home for a "meet and greet" with Mike Hestrin, a Riverside County deputy district attorney from Temecula who is gunning for his boss's job.

Although the campaign is still in its early stages - the consolidated primary election is not until June 3, 2014 - Hestrin has been hitting it hard as he looks to unseat Riverside County District Attorney Paul Zellerbach.

In addition to his appearance last night, Hestrin will appear Oct. 26 from noon to 4 p.m. during a a precinct walk with supporters in Temecula.

Hestrin has not been a quiet foe. In March, he was quoted by City News Service 
as saying, "After 15 years with this office, I know that our attorneys are talented, smart, professional and passionate about making it right for the victims of crime and serving justice. But we have a serious crisis of leadership that has left the office adrift. That is why my mission is to change the status quo.

"I'm tired of our office being used as a monument to one man's ego," Hestrin continued. "I'm tired of our core mission taking a back seat to politics. If elected, you have my word that I will not allow politics or favoritism to tarnish our core mission. Our best people will be in the courtroom regardless of who they know or support."

Zellerbach has maintained that any criticism of his office is "politically motivated."

"The emphasis here is on trying to achieve justice and fairness and at the same time protect the public," he told City News Service in January.

Zellerbach was elected to serve as the county's district attorney in 2010 when he unseated then-District Attorney Rod Pacheco in a heated race. Zellerbach is a former Superior Court judge and prosecutor.

According to Hestrin's campaign website, he graduated in 1993 from the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona with a bachelor’s degree in history.  After college, he says he spent a year living in Mexico with relatives working as a reporter for a small newspaper based in Guadalajara and then returned to the United States to attend Stanford University, School of Law, graduating in 1997 with a Juris Doctorate in Law and a Master's degree in Latin American studies.

After Stanford, Hestrin says he returned home to Riverside County to become a deputy district attorney. He started as a volunteer law clerk in 1997 with the Riverside County District Attorney's Office and was eventually hired by then-District Attorney Grover Trask, according to his website. He's currently a deputy district attorney assigned to the Homicide Unit.

Reported by Patch editor Toni McAllister


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