Vu Trinh was born in Saigon and immigrated to the United States in 1975. He graduated from UC Irvine in 1989 and earned his law degree from UC Hastings College of the Law. He clerked for the San Francisco public defender’s offi ce and was admitted to the bar in 1992. He was a deputy Orange County public defender until 2000, when he opened his private defense practice. In 2009, he was appointed to the State Bar’s Crim- inal Law Advisory Commission.
The district attorney’s offi ce “is ineffective,” Trinh said. “If you look at the ten-year statistics, they haven’t im- proved at all. They are not accurately identifying perpe- trators of violent crime.”
If elected he would place video cameras in public spaces to identify perpetrators and to use as evidence. “We are spend- ing more money on catching people running red lights than we are on fi nding murderers and rapists,” he said.
“They are not apprehending anybody,” he said. “I have been a victim of that and I know how it feels,” he said, referring to his sister Ann, who was killed by a drunk driver in 1991.
“If we can take care of violent crime, we will see a com-
plete change,” Trinh said. “The economy will improve greatly and people will want to come here.”
Trinh opposes the death penalty because he believes it violates the Eighth Amendment. “Besides, it’s a waste,” he said. “It’s not being implemented and people are just grandstanding.”
He would like California courts to adopt data systems used by the federal courts, in which attorneys, cases, and parties can be easily searched and their records reviewed. “You should have a transparent system,” he said.
As for California’s prison realignment, “If they want the DA to be a part of that, they should give more funding to the DA’s offi ce, the public defender and the probation offi ce,” he said, noting that corrections offi cials currently have that duty.
Trinh supports decriminalizing drugs and opposes sit-lie, which he feels is unjust and probably unconstitutional. “People don’t want to be homeless and be so hungry they can’t move,” he said. “And we want to criminalize that? It’s an absurdity.”
Trinh said voters should consider the experience of the candidates, noting that he has talked to thousands of de- fendants and witnesses. “I have actually dealt with real- life people from a defense perspective,” he said. “Do you think if you’ve never done a trial, you can manage a trial? That’s unbelievable hubris.”
Voting is currently underway for BASF’s plebiscite vote for San Francisco District Attorney. All attorney members as of August 31, 2011, are eligible to vote, so cast your ballot by Friday, September 23 so that BASF can endorse a candidate. Results of the plebiscite will be made public on Tuesday, September 27, 2011. If you have questions, visit
www.sfbar.org/plebiscite.
THE BAR ASSOCIATION OF SAN FRANCISCO SAN FRANCISCO ATTORNEY 25
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