TS - Fired deputy DA named 'Prosecutor of Year'

Fired deputy DA named 'Prosecutor of Year'
Chris Durant/The Times-Standard
Article Launched: 09/21/2006 04:20:08 AM PDT

EUREKA -- Worth Dikeman, who was fired from the Humboldt County District Attorney's Office last week, has won the “Prosecutor of the Year Award” for Region Eight of the California Narcotic Officer's Association.

”I'm very flattered to have been chosen for this award,” Dikeman said Wednesday.

Dikeman said his last assignment was to be the office's narcotics deputy.

”Worth's reputation with local, state and federal narcotics officers/agents has always been that he is a hard-working, enormously knowledgeable and tough but fair prosecutor,” said an association press release. “He has repeatedly made himself available to law enforcement officers after hours and on weekends.”

His former boss, District Attorney Paul Gallegos, said, “I am grateful for their acknowledgment of his service to this community and am happy that he received such a kind acknowledgment from them.”

Dikeman said he's going to “examine all of the options” as far as his next career move.

An outspoken critic and two-time political foe of his boss, Dikeman was released from his job Friday after two decades with the District Attorney's Office.

This week, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Dikeman had rejected potential jurors in a murder trial “on the basis of their race, in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.” He has denied the charge.