Tag Archive for: San Diego County District Attorney

Deputy District Attorneys Recognized with MADD “Prosecutor of the Year” Awards

San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan announced today that Deputy District Attorneys Mary Loeb and Natalie Garcia were each recognized as Prosecutor of the Year for their work in the DA’s DUI Homicide Unit. The honors were announced by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) at the annual MADD San Diego Law Enforcement and Prosecutor Recognition Awards held June 5th at the Town and Country Resort.

“This recognition from MADD highlights the outstanding work of our prosecution team, specifically Mary Loeb and Natalie Garcia, whose expertise and commitment in serious and fatal DUI-related cases repeatedly delivers justice to victims and their families,” said DA Stephan. While the fatal consequences of alcohol-impaired driving are well known, we’re increasingly seeing drivers under the influence of drugs or a dangerous mix of both alcohol and drugs, with often tragic outcomes. These two prosecutors skillfully handle complex drug-DUI cases, helping jurors understand the often-hidden signs of drug impairment. I’m incredibly proud of them, and this award is a testament to their hard work and dedication.”

In 2024, 26 people were killed in 21 DUI-related crashes in San Diego County. So far in 2025, the DA’s DUI Homicide Unit has filed 11 new DUI homicide cases.

Recipients of MADD’s awards are chosen through a call for nominations process. The organization reaches out to community partners, law enforcement agencies, local officials and their internal victim advocates asking them to nominate individuals who stand out in the community with regards to DUI-related work.

Every year, MADD honors law enforcement officials for their continuous efforts in DUI-related enforcement. This year, the event recognized law enforcement with awards for the number of DUI arrests made annually. According to MADD, each arrest is a life saved and MADD awards law enforcement’s service as they dedicate their lives to keeping our roads safe.

Deputy DAs Mary Loeb and Natalie Garcia were nominated by Deputy DA Hailey Williams, the Director of the DA’s DUI Homicide Unit. In 2024, Loeb and Garcia successfully prosecuted Tayishe Baltys for killing 15-year-old Jessica Talamante and her 39-year-old stepfather Brian McKee. In 2022, Baltys drove drunk and fatally struck Jessica and Brian as they walked across East Plaza Boulevard in National City toward their home. Prior to the collision, Baltys spent three hours drinking alcohol with co-workers at a Dave & Buster’s restaurant in Mission Valley. Despite two separate bartenders asking Baltys if she planned to take an Uber or Lyft home, Baltys instead got behind the wheel of her car so intoxicated that she drove to National City, even though she resides in Mission Valley.

Although Baltys repeatedly denied drinking to the responding officers, her blood-alcohol content was approximately 0.16%, which is twice the legal driving limit. Just 19 days before the fatal collision, Baltys had completed DUI probation following a DUI arrest and conviction one year earlier. Deput DAs Mary Loeb and Natalie Garcia’s skilled presentation of the facts of their case and cross-examination of defense witnesses secured justice for the deaths of Jessica and Brian. In December 2024, a Chula Vista jury returned guilty verdicts against Baltys for their murders.

DA Weekly News Update with DA Summer Stephan 06-12-25

In this week’s DA News Update, District Attorney Summer Stephan talks about the regional expansion of Shelter Ready— an innovative mobile app designed to connect people experiencing homelessness with emergency shelter in real time.

 

 

New App to Find Shelter for the Homeless

San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan just announced the regional expansion of Shelter Ready— an innovative mobile app designed to connect people experiencing homelessness with emergency shelter in real time. WATCH MORE in this video.

 

 

Innovative Shelter Ready App Expanding Countywide

San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan announced today the regional expansion of her office’s Shelter Ready app, an innovative technology solution that connects people experiencing homelessness to emergency shelter in real time. The launch event, held at the County Operations Center, brought together more than 200 stakeholders representing 89 agencies or organizations from across the region, including service providers, public officials, law enforcement and nonprofit leaders.

Shelter Ready is a transparent and efficient platform that helps frontline workers quickly locate and refer unsheltered individuals to appropriate shelter beds. It was developed in partnership with a national technology nonprofit and informed by input from dozens of San Diego County agencies. Over the past several months, the app has been piloted successfully in the North County with several local organizations and is now being made available countywide—at no cost—through leadership from the DA’s Office. [WATCH NEWS CONFERENCE HERE]

“This regional launch of Shelter Ready is a major step forward in creating a transparent, accountable, compassionate, and efficient solution to match an individual suffering from homelessness with a suitable emergency shelter,” DA Stephan said. “With Shelter Ready, we are equipping our partners with a powerful tool to reduce time consuming barriers  and provide life changing assistance to people in crisis. This technology is one key piece of the puzzle to bring hope, dignity, and real time solutions to a complex public health and public safety crisis that is intrinsic to homelessness. I believe  it will become a model for the state of California and the nation. It’s our call to action that this free app will be used by every entity that is sincerely committed to ending the suffering of unsheltered human beings in our region.”

Today’s event also provided an update on the DA’s Three Point Plan to address the intersection of homelessness, behavioral health, and criminal justice—an initiative originally introduced by DA Stephan in 2022. The Shelter Ready app regionalization represents the fulfillment of a key goal from that plan: expanding the use of technology to support unsheltered populations, building on a model that previously helped victims of domestic violence and human trafficking find shelter in minutes rather than days. Three years of District Attorney data shows that individuals who are experiencing homelessness become involved with the justice system as victims and perpetrators at dramatically higher rates than the rest of the population, as well as a higher rate of overdose deaths.

“The most common question people ask when experiencing homelessness is, ‘Where can I go for help?’ And there’s nothing more frontline workers want than to help,” said Tamera Kohler, CEO of the Regional Task Force on Homelessness. “So, it’s incredibly timely to have an app to help connect people to services they need, including finding a shelter bed. This has been a real challenge, but that’s a little easier now thanks to this innovative technology, which provides valuable real-time information frontline workers need to connect to services quickly.”

Attendees witnessed a live demonstration of the app and heard from organizations that have participated in the pilot phase and are already using Shelter Ready in the field. The platform was built specifically for the San Diego region and shaped by feedback from local stakeholders.

One of the organizations that has partnered with the DA’s Office in testing and developing the Shelter Ready app for the past several months is the San Diego Rescue Mission’s North County Lighthouse.

“The San Diego Rescue Mission (SDRM) has been honored to participate with the DA’s Office to utilize and evaluate this unique technology that is a game changer when it comes to providing homeless services,” said Donnie Dee, San Diego Rescue Mission CEO. “The Shelter Ready platform is clearly a tool that can be essential for all shelter providers in the county. Since using Shelter Ready, we’ve seen stronger collaboration and communication between shelter providers and our outreach workers. The result has been a more efficient and effective process in helping people experiencing homelessness find the right shelter for them at the right time.”

The Shelter Ready app stems from a larger effort that began in 2018, when DA Stephan convened regional symposiums to tackle the intersection of mental health, homelessness, and the justice system. The 2019 Blueprint for Mental Health Reform and subsequent Three Point Plan have since guided local reforms and partnerships focused on creating long-term, system-wide change.

“Having awareness of available resources for people experiencing homelessness is essential to making the right connections,” said Dr. Kimberly Giardina, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for the County Health and Human Services Agency. “As usage of this new app expands regionally, we look forward to working with the District Attorney and other providers to maximize transparency and connections to accessible resources.”

The most recent Point-in-Time Count, conducted in January 2025 by the Regional Task Force on Homelessness, reported 9,905 individuals experiencing homelessness in San Diego County with 5,714 of those individuals identified as being unsheltered. [WATCH NEWS CONFERENCE HERE]

DA Weekly News Update with DA Summer Stephan 11-14-24

This week, DA Summer Stephan explains why ‘wildcatters’ (or “raiteros” in Spanish) are a problem near the U.S./Mexico border, and what officials are doing about it.

DA Weekly News Update with DA Summer Stephan 10-17-24

In this week’s DA News Update, DA Summer Stephan discusses two recent cases where justice was served: The defendant in a deadly carjacking in Coronado was sentenced and a Pacific Beach rapist was denied parole.

One Safe Place Celebrates 2 year anniversary

One Safe Place Celebrates 2-Year Anniversary

San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan announced that One Safe Place: The North County Family Justice Center in San Marcos, is celebrating its two-year anniversary and has released an Impact Report, which highlights the achievements and services offered at this state-of-the-art Family Justice Center. The report was released during a celebration at One Safe Place on Monday with more than 100 community partners, leaders and dignitaries in attendance. WATCH a video of the 2-year anniversary celebration below. Read more about the milestones accomplished by One Safe Place, here.

 

DA Weekly News Update with DA Summer Stephan 09-12-24

In this week’s DA News Update, DA Summer Stephan reveals the result of a school shooter’s parole hearing and discusses upcoming educational forums about a ballot proposition.

Parole Denied for 2001 Santana High School Shooter

San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan said today that the Santana High School shooting defendant who opened fire at the school in Santee, California in March 2001 with a
revolver, killing two students and wounding 13 others was denied parole after an eight-hour hearing this morning in which 22 victims testified. After the hearing to weigh suitability for release, parole officials denied 38-year-old Charles “Andy” Williams’ request and said he should not be up for consideration again for another three years.

“I’m grateful to the Parole Board for listening to the victims in this case whose lives were forever changed by the defendant’s premeditated and cruel acts that terrorized an innocent school campus,” DA Stephan said. “Neither the 13 wounded victims nor the families of the two murdered students can regain what the defendant took from them.”

Williams was sentenced to 50 years-to-life in prison in June 2002. His parole hearing comes exactly 23 years since the mass shooting. His chance at parole is due to a change in state law that altered sentencing guidelines for juveniles who were tried as adults. In Williams’ case, the Youthful Parole law requires that any juvenile who was charged as an adult and received a life sentence has a chance at parole no later than 25 years into their sentence. Williams was 15 when he committed the crime.

In today’s hearing, the District Attorney’s Office argued that Williams remains an unreasonable risk and danger to society. Twenty-two victims who suffered as a result of the school shooting attended the video hearing and provided victim impact statements regarding the effects of the shooting.

The DA’s Lifer Hearing Unit has two main goals: to ensure that dangerous prisoners with life sentences are not released carelessly or improvidently, and to ensure that crime victims and their families are given an opportunity to participate in the parole hearing process and have their voices heard.

When a defendant is given a life sentence, the Lifer Hearing Unit processes the case to ensure that it is ready for future parole suitability hearings. This involves preserving victims’ statements and documenting the gravity of the crimes to ensure the offenders serve sentences proportional to their crimes.

Last year, there were 664 lifer parole hearings scheduled in San Diego County. Of those, 96 inmates received parole grants from the California Board of Parole Hearings. The remainder of the hearings –568– resulted in denials, postponements, or stipulations to a denial of parole.

The Lifer Hearing Unit is the state-wide leader in lifer matters and San Diego County serves as the training office for other prosecutors who seek to understand the complex laws governing parole hearings.

“Our DA Lifer Unit handles these complex and often gut-wrenching hearings, led by Deputy DA John Cross who is a statewide leader in lifer law,” DA Stephan said. “The Unit does an excellent job of representing victims and working to protect the safety of our communities when violent criminals are being considered for release.”

DA Weekly News Update with DA Summer Stephan 09-05-24

In this week’s DA News Update, District Attorney Summer Stephan recognizes victims of fentanyl overdoses, and explains a historic binational agreement to help crime victims.