Voters will choose between two candidates in the Sacramento County district attorney race on Tuesday, June 5.
District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert is running for re-election to a second term.
It’s been a notable year for the incumbent, with the Stephon Clark officer-involved shooting on March 18, prompting public protests that have focused on Schubert and her relationship with police officers.
Weeks later, on April 24, Joseph DeAngelo, believed to be the East Area Rapist and Golden State Killer from the 1970s and 80s, was arrested. That announcement put Schubert in the national spotlight.
She joins Insight to discuss all of this and more.
You can listen to our interview with her challenger, Noah Phillips, here.
Interview Highlights
On how the DA will handle overseeing the investigation into the Stephon Clark shooting:
Well, the thing about me, if anybody knows me, is I'm always going to stay true to what my mission is and what my job is, which is that I was elected to do a job. And I've said this many times, that in any case — whether it's an officer-involved shooting, whether it's a DUI case, whatever it is of the 35,000 cases that come to our office — we're going to do our job, which is to follow the facts and the law. And one of the challenges that we had on the Stephon Clark shooting is that we do not have that case. We still do not have that case.
And so while I understand that there are many folks in the community, you know many protesters outside the building screaming at us, I understand the anger and the frustration. I've said that many times. But I also know that I'm going to do my job, which is to follow the facts and the law. Those have not been presented to our office yet. And so I understand the frustration but I'm still gonna maintain what I had made a commitment to do, which I'm never going to change.
On whether she would re-evaluate the Joseph Mann case:
The case has been decided. ...
It's easy for anybody to say, “I'm going to reopen things.” If Mr. Phillips [editor’s note: Her opponent is deputy DA Noah Phillips] is telling you that he's going to prosecute those officers, I would be curious to see if he was asked that question, because the same thing has occurred in the Stephon Clark shooting is that, when he goes to certain community groups or he sends out mailers, he's clearly inferring that he's going to prosecute the officers, yet when he's pressed by the SacBee editorial board, he says, “Oh, I don't know. I don't have the facts.”
So, what I do know is that I'm going to do exactly what I was elected to do, which is to follow the facts and the law. And I understand that there may be folks frustrated about the Joseph Mann shooting. But again, our job is to do a factual and legal review and that decision has been made.
On campaign contributions from outsiders to her opponent:
I think the voters should make a decision whether they want an outside billionaire who is essentially anti-law enforcement to come into this county and try to buy an election. And if you look across the history of California and across this country of what Mr. [George] Soros is trying to do, then I'm quite confident the voters of this county and the citizens of this county understand that this is our county.
On the fence around the DA’s office:
It doesn't look good. I get that, actually. I understand that. But I also understand that I am also the leader of an office that has 400-plus employees, who have a right to be to go to and from their jobs and to walk outside the back of the building and to be able to safely go to their cars to perhaps pick up their children. So, I understand the optics may not be the best optics, but I also understand that I also owe to my own staff to make sure that they are free to go to and from work.
