Andy Lopez case key to D.A. race

She was hired by the late Mendocino County District Attorney Norm Vroman in 2002 and handled a broad range of cases before being promoted to management.

Shanahan left in 2007 when Passalacqua offered her a job in Sonoma County, where she was assigned to domestic violence, sexual assault and vehicular homicide cases. She prosecuted Windsor resident Ryan Karr, who killed five family members in a fiery rear-end crash on Highway 101 in 2007. He was convicted by a jury and sentenced to four years in prison.

She was later transferred to the gang unit, where she handled the prosecution of Fernando Mendoza, charged with the 2009 slaying of rival Luis Suarez on a Santa Rosa street. Mendoza was convicted after a five-week trial and sentenced to life behind bars.

Shanahan said she decided to run against Ravitch after she and other senior prosecutors brought a list of criticisms to the boss's attention and were ignored.

Among their concerns were Ravitch's disbanding of a dedicated homicide team Shanahan said has resulted in lighter punishments for killers. Also, she said Ravitch has failed to establish policies on things like marijuana prosecution, flooding the courts with low-level offenders and creating chaos in the office.

And she said Ravitch has kept voters in the dark about her performance despite hammering Passalacqua over his conviction rates in her own campaign.

"I want to hold her accountable for her promises," said Shanahan. "She's been telling the public that everything is fine. The reality is, it's not."

Shanahan said the feeling is shared by rank-and-file law enforcement officers who must work closely with prosecutors. Neither the Sonoma County Deputy Sheriff's Association nor the Santa Rosa Police Officers Association is endorsing a candidate this year.

Also, many criminal attorneys are abandoning Ravitch for Shanahan, who is seen as less experienced but more even-tempered and capable.

"It's one thing to be an excellent trial prosecutor," said Santa Rosa defense attorney Roy Miller, who supported Ravitch in 2010 but is switching his vote to Shanahan. "It's another thing to be an excellent manager. Not everybody has that skill set."

Ravitch countered that she has a good relationship with police, who she said rarely endorse a candidate. She discontinued the homicide team to deal with a backlog of other felony cases and focuses marijuana prosecution on major trafficking and money laundering operations.

Prosecutor Brian Staebell, who has worked under three district attorneys, said Ravitch is doing a good job, despite the naysayers.

"It's very easy to point fingers and say it's broken when in reality, it's just a very difficult thing to manage," Staebell said.

And Ravitch said she's winning cases. After declining to release conviction rate statistics for the past 2-1/2 years, Ravitch announced at a candidates' forum last week that she recently discovered one of her managers was keeping a tally of last year's felony trials.

Her conviction rate was 90 percent, she said.

"We are getting outstanding results in the courtroom," Ravitch said.

Critics accused Ravitch of using fuzzy math. According to Ravitch, of the 40 felony jury trials last year, her office won 27 convictions and suffered three acquittals. The remaining 10 mistrials should not factor into the rate, she said.

But her real conviction rate appears to be around 68 percent, said retired Sonoma County prosecutor Greg Jacobs. The performance reflects failed charging policies and outmatched trial attorneys, he said.

"The point is, she didn't keep track of it herself," said Jacobs, who was Ravitch's supervisor during his 35 years on the job. "That's pretty lame."

But Ravitch said justice isn't measured by conviction rates alone, although she's installing a new $2 million case management system to track such statistics. Her office participates in pre-trial diversion programs aimed at keeping people from re-offending and getting them off drugs.

"You have to back away from the win-loss argument," she said. "Statistics are always subject to interpretation. And they are only as good as the data they come from."

Ravitch, who became the first woman to hold the office, pointed to other achievements.

The respected trial lawyer claims she beefed up prosecution of drunken drivers and elder abusers, while providing enhanced victim services at the new Family Justice Center, which opened after years of planning in 2011.

Her tenure came during difficult budget times in which she says she maintained staffing levels, in part by obtaining government grants. Her first term also unfolded as the state embarked on its plan to reduce prison overcrowding by shifting responsibility for thousands of parolees to counties.

At the same time, Ravitch says she lived up to a campaign goal of putting managers back in the courtroom. With assistance from a senior prosecutor, she tried a murder case to conviction in 2012 while balancing administrative duties and political obligations. Among her supporters are all members of the Board of Supervisors and the county's law enforcement managers.

She is handily winning the money race, raising $98,000 from supporters through March 17, compared to $30,000 raised by Shanahan in the same period, according to campaign finance reports.

Former Sonoma County prosecutor and longtime supporter Julia Freis called Ravitch "hard-wired for justice."

"Our elected district attorney is required to make some very difficult decisions," Freis said. "I can't think of anyone I would trust more to make those decisions with intelligence and compassion than Jill."