TS - Two more attorneys leaving District Attorney's Office

Two more attorneys leaving District Attorney's Office
By Chris Durant The Times-Standard
August 26, 2004

EUREKA - A senior deputy district attorney who prosecutes many of the county's homicide cases will be putting criminals behind bars in Napa County after next month.

Deputy District Attorney Rob Wade is leaving Humboldt County after 18 and a half years in the District attorney's Office.

"It's time for a change," Wade said.

He's taking a position with the Napa County District Attorney's Office.

Wade has prosecuted some of the more high-profile cases in the county, including Florence Laurel Anderson, 28, and Michaels Lane, 21, who were found guilty of first degree murder and second degree robbery in June 2002. The couple killed Bruce Michael James, 44, in a Broadway Motel room in April 2001.

In January, 2003, Wade was the prosecutor during the preliminary hearing for Brian Brandt, 21, and Robert Young, 29. The men were involved in the killing of Neil Lemons, 23, at the South Jetty in April 2002. Shortly after the men were held to answer to charges, they entered guilty pleas. Brandt was sentenced to three years in prison for being an accessory to murder after the fact. Young pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to 26 years to life in prison.

Wade prosecuted Dianna Mae Preston, 59, of Trinidad, who was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole for killing Kevin La Porta. 47, in July 2002, in the kitchen of a Eureka restaurant. The trial was held in Napa County after a change of venue. The judge believed Preston would not get a fair trial in Humboldt County.

One of his more recent convictions was Joshua Kirtley, 25. Kirtley killed Paul Sanders near an Ettersburg ranch where they both lived and worked in 1996. He was sentenced to 25 yesrs to life in prison last June.

Wade's last day for the Humboldt County District Attorney's Office is Sept. 17.

Another attorney who was hired about the time Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos took office in 2003 is leaving for a job in Lake County.

Ed Borg said the motivation for the switch is to be closer to family. His last day is Friday.

Borg and Wade are the second and third attorneys to leave the office this year.

In June, Allison Jackson, a longtime prosecutor of sex offense cases, was fired from the District Attorney's Office.