Microsoft word - wendy_patrick_mazzarella_bio.doc

Wendy Patrick Mazzarella
Deputy District Attorney
330 W. Broadway, Suite 1200
San Diego, California 92101
(619) 531-3260
wendy.mazzarella@sdcda.org
Wendy Patrick Mazzarella is a Deputy District Attorney in the San Diego District
Attorney’s Office. Before joining the District Attorney's Office Ms. Mazzarella was a
Deputy Public Defender for San Diego County. Most of her practice is trial work; she
has completed approximately 85 criminal jury trials ranging from stalking, to torture, to
first-degree murder. Ms. Mazzarella is the Chair of the San Diego County Bar
Association’s Ethics Committee, an incoming member of the California State Bar
Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct, and an accomplished ethics
speaker both nationally and internationally.
Prosecuting Hate Crimes

Prior to her current assignment in the Family Protection Division where she prosecutes
child molesters and domestic violence abusers, Ms. Mazzarella was assigned to the Hate
Crime Unit where she prosecuted hate crimes countywide. This proactive assignment
also included a significant amount of public speaking to community based groups as well
as educational and legal organizations including the Association for Criminal Justice
Research, the San Diego Chapter of the United Nations, the California Association of
Equal Rights Professionals, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing,
and the California State Bar Association. As an Institute of Criminal Investigation (ICI)
certified instructor she provided hate crime training to law enforcement on a regular basis
both at the Police Academe and at law enforcement agencies countywide. Ms.
Mazzarella has been featured on informational films, radio programs and numerous local
news programs on the topic of hate crimes.
In the Hate Crimes unit Ms. Mazzarella worked closely with the Anti Defamation
League, served on the Steering Committee for Pathways to Tolerance- a program
targeting youth at risk of becoming hate crime offenders, and was an active member of
the San Diego Regional Hate Crimes Coalition. She was instrumental in providing
information and assistance to the San Diego Muslim community dealing with retaliatory
hate crimes in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Her community outreach
in the Hate Crime Unit earned her the Friend of the Community Award from the Tom
Homann Law Association (gay and lesbian Bar association) in 2003, and an award from
the Pan Asian Bar Association/ Filipino American Lawyers of San Diego for teaching
hate crime law at their Community Law School Program.
Publications

Regarding publications, Ms. Mazzarella was a contributing author to Hate Crimes:
Causes, Controls, and Controversies by Phyllis B. Gerstenfeld, is the author of a chapter
in an upcoming Encyclopedia of Race and Racism, and wrote “Hate-Crimes Law” in Did
You Know (California District Attorneys Association March 2003). Ms. Mazzarella is
published on a regular basis on other topics as well. She has her own ethics column in
the San Diego Daily Transcript, has a regular column in Law Enforcement Quarterly, is a
regular contributor and editorial Board member for San Diego Lawyer magazine, writes
for the California State Bar Criminal Law Journal, has been quoted in the American Bar
Association Journal, and was a contributing author for the National College of District
Attorneys in Doing Justice (NCDA 2002) and The Practical Prosecutor (NCDA 2005).
Awards and Personal Information

Ms. Mazzarella received the Service to the San Diego County Bar Association Award
from the San Diego County Bar Association in 2005, and was recognized as one of San
Diego Metropolitan Magazine’s 40 under 40 honorees in 2001. On a personal note, Ms.
Mazzarella holds a purple belt in karate, plays violin in the La Jolla Symphony Orchestra,
and plays the electric violin professionally with a rock band.

Source: http://sdalliance.org/cms/files/Wendy_Patrick_Mazzarella_bio.pdf