A former Yolo County prosecutor who ran for judge in 2012 with a tough-on-crime platform is now working as a criminal defense attorney.
Clint Parish told The Enterprise he struck out on his own last month after leaving the Tuolumne County District Attorney’s Office for reasons he did not specify.
The website for his Sonora office promises “compassionate, yet aggressive defense counsel” and touts his insight from 12 years of prosecutorial work.
“I now use this experience as a defense attorney to prepare strong case strategies aimed at reducing or eliminating my clients’ charges, or minimizing the penalties they might face,” the website says. “I protect my clients’ rights at all times and work hard to get them out of their difficult situations.”
Parish lost the June 2012 election to incumbent Superior Court Judge Dan Maguire with less than 23 percent of the vote, the result of a pair of negative campaign ads that turned out to contain false allegations about his opponent. That strategy, which Parish blamed on political naivete and bad advice from his campaign consultant, cost him nearly all his endorsements.
He resigned from the Yolo DA’s office several months later.
A resulting case filed in State Bar Court accused Parish of violating the rules of professional conduct, and a judge ruled last October that he should be admonished rather than formally disciplined. The State Bar’s Office of the Chief Trial Counsel is appealing the decision to the bar’s court review department.
Both sides filed their opening briefs for the review earlier this month and have until about mid-February to submit their responses. The court then has 90 days from early March to issue a decision, Parish said.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene