What's about to change in the Fresno DA's office
Egan wasn't at the office Wednesday, but she told Action News she will get right back to work. She says she's proud of what she'd done over the last 11 years and now, her first order of business is to let the office heal.
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Fresno County's district attorney's office is headed in a new direction after a resounding vote for change.
Lisa Sondergaard Smittcamp takes over the office in January as the first new district attorney since 2002. She won by a large margin, getting 59% of the vote, compared to 41% for the incumbent, Elizabeth Egan.
"I think clearly she's going to change the administration in the office," said ABC30 political analyst Tony Capozzi of Smittcamp. "She indicated she wanted to have more training for the deputy district attorneys. I think that's good."
Smittcamp was all smiles on election night as her lead in the district attorney's race grew with each new set of numbers. But a campaign that turned harshly negative left her with a few battle scars.
"I think it's going to take me a little time to heal and I'm going to try to get past it and move forward and hopefully we can have a smooth transition."
Smittcamp will take over from Elizabeth Egan in January, but the changes she's considering may not be noticed by the general public.
Courthouse staff might notice the new district attorney actually in court on cases; she says she might just return to her bread and butter and work all the domestic violence cases in her first week on the job. But the biggest change she'll commit to now is a changing of the guard. Egan's second-in-command, Kelly Keenan, is not on her wish list of people to keep.
"We have fundamental differences in the way we see cases and I have never seen eye-to-eye with his management style, so I'm assuming he will not want to be employed in my administration," Smittcamp said.
She says prosecutors will know they're getting more mentoring and eventually more discretion to make decisions on their court cases. She hopes that'll mean faster resolution to cases and Capozzi says it could make for a more efficient court system.
"The plea bargaining was regulated from the top down in the DA's office now," he said. "Everything had to go through a supervisor or the top district attorney. I think with Smittcamp, what she's saying, is 'I want to give more discretion to the line deputies when they're there to make those decisions.' I like that."
Egan wasn't at the office Wednesday, but she told Action News she will get right back to work. She says she's proud of what she'd done over the last 11 years and now, her first order of business is to let the office heal.
