Judge Candidate MacKinnon

 

A candidate for the open seat on the bench of the county superior court, John MacKinnon is the youngest of the three local lawyers vying for the position. The 37-year-old Santa Maria native currently is a prosecutor for the county district attorney’s office.

A graduate of Righetti High School and Pepperdine University, MacKinnon received his law degree from University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law. First working for the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office, MacKinnon returned to Santa Maria with his family in 2000 after the passing of his father.

After working as a prosecutor in Lompoc for the DA’s office, he transferred to the Santa Maria office and primarily handled domestic violence cases.

 

“These are some of the most difficult cases to prosecute,” said MacKinnon. Witnesses sometimes change stories and decide not to testify against a spouse accused of domestic violence.

Within two years MacKinnon was handling civil commitments of violent sexual predators.

He said that there are currently six inmates at Atascadero State Hospital whom he prosecuted, securing their civil commitment at the end of their prison sentences.

Noting that the open seat will handle both civil and criminal cases, MacKinnon said, “An attorney must have an understanding of the rules of evidence … those don’t change from a civil to a criminal case.”

The last criminal trial that MacKinnon handled was a three-month trial with 32 individual counts against the criminal defendant. “Most of what an attorney does is to move the cases along,” he said.

MacKinnon also has experience in the county’s drug court.

“We deal very little with the law in drug court … they come to us for human issues.”

Discussing the need for a North County jail, MacKinnon said that jail overcrowding and rules that allow offenders to be released with very short sentences or no time served, will be relieved with a new jail. Currently some convicted of minor crimes are released from the jail after serving only a small portion on their sentence, as the jail must make room for the more serious offenders. The shorter sentences are a function of the lowering standards for sentencing and are being recommended by the county probation department to alleviate the overcrowding problem.

 

Noting that often criminal defendants come into court without documentation of their identity, MacKinnon said, “as far as the undocumented alien problem … as a judge there is nothing I can do … enforcement of immigration laws is a federal issue.”

He explained that local law enforcement agencies are prohibited from ascertaining the legal residency of a suspect or someone arrested for a crime. Often these individuals identify themselves with multiple names to confuse the authorities.

The jail sometimes will inform Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency responsible for monitoring undocumented aliens, if it is suspected that the name is fictitious.

When asked how he is better qualified than the other candidates MacKinnon said that he’s well experienced in trial matters, has established good relationships with local lawyers, and understands the need to move cases through the system in a fair and efficient manner that ensures the rights of all parties.