Prosecutor and former businesswoman, defense attorney and former EMT run for judge
Both candidates running for the office of retiring judge Scott Steffen worked in professions prior to their legal careers they say would help them as a judge.
Annette Rees has been a prosecutor for 22 years, much of which has been spent in the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s special victims unit, both prosecuting cases and supervising other attorneys.
Prior to becoming an attorney she earned a masters degree in healthcare administration and started her own medical billing service with seven employees.
“I know about having critical conversations, I know about holding people accountable, I know about some civil litigation and I know that that would help me in terms of running an efficient courtroom, dealing with difficult people and being a judge,” Rees said.
Sam Getrich has worked in both criminal and civil law, starting as a prosecutor for nine years, spending a few in civil after that and now working as a defense attorney. Before that he worked as an Emergency Medical Technician for American Medical Response for 10 years.
“The 10 years I spent working for AMR put me in close contact with every single segment of our society… I literally picked up and carried the sick, the dead and the dying of this community and stood shoulder to shoulder with our firefighters and our law enforcement,” Getrich said. “That gave me really good insight into how our community works, into how the people in our community live and a lot of empathy for those people and making critical decisions in adverse environments.”
During a debate at The Modesto Bee last month they spoke about topics including bail reform, court efficiency and the future of the justice system.
The future of California’s bail system will be up to voters in November to decide whether to uphold a law signed by former Governor Jerry Brown in 2018 that would eliminate the cash bail system in favor of judges weighing risk assessment to determine whether a defendant is released prior to trial.
As an attorney who represents indigent defendants, Getrich said he has clients who can’t even post $1,000 bail.
“So being in custody is a lot more complex in terms of defending yourself than being out of custody,” he said. “Everyone needs to be … given equal access to justice and freedom.”
Rees said she is very interested in the risk-assessment system and the algorithms being developed “because we want to eliminate any intrinsic bias in scoring those as well.”
“I think if we can increase equality of application in terms of bail that is a very good thing,” she said.
Addressing a backlog in criminal cases in Stanislaus Superior Court, Rees said her business background will help her maintain an efficient courtroom, along with implementing more mandatory settlement conferences and holding accountable attorneys who are not prepared.
Getrich said one of the biggest issues is the quantity of cases versus the number of judges and courtroom staff.
“If the quantity of the cases is too big that will overwhelm the judges,” Getrich said, adding that Judges can help each other and improve overall efficiency by assisting on other judges’ cases if they’ve completed their calendar for the day.
Asked what sets them apart from their opponent Rees said her work ethic and businesses skills.
“I am passionate about justice and that means justice for everyone: parties, victims, witnesses, defendants, jurors,” she said.
Getrich said his full range of experience on both criminal and civil law means he can segue easily into the position of judge in either discipline and his experience as an EMT prepared him to interact with people in difficult circumstances.
“I have a good temperament and the ability to work well with others,” he said.
This story was originally published February 7, 2020 at 11:54 AM.
