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Judicial Candidate Says DA’s Office Punished Him for Being ‘Fair,’ Won’t Provide Specifics
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Criminal defense lawyer Matthew Vodnoy, a candidate for a Los Angeles Superior Court open seat on the June 7 ballot, is refusing to elaborate on his public assertion that while he was a deputy district attorney, he incurred discipline for displaying fairness rather than adhering to office policies.
Vodnoy says on the website of Kestenbaum Law Group, a Van Nuys law firm in which he had been a partner, and no longer is:
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MATHEW VODNOY Judicial Candidate |
“In every case I ever handled, I chose to be as fair as possible, and therefore repeatedly punished by those who saw my version of justice and independent thought as a threat to their political agenda.”
He will not divulge in what way he was “punished” or for what conduct.
In the website statement, he declares:
“For justice to occur, no prosecutor can blindly follow office directives, police conclusions, nor societal trends.”
He boasts that in his current role as a defense attorney, he relies upon his “many years of unparalleled perspective as a Deputy District Attorney to outmaneuver the current court system and bring the human element back into the scales of justice.”
In an initial response to an emailed request for specifics, Vodnoy said that he left the Office of District Attorney (in 2019) voluntarily and related:
“After 14 years as a prosecutor, I came to realize that there had to be more to criminal justice than just putting people in jail. But I didn’t feel that was a popular sentiment at the DA’s office at the time. My decision to leave the DA’s office had nothing to with DA [Jackie] Lacey but more to do with my own evolution. I became more interested in looking at alternatives to incarceration, at reform vs. merely punishment. And it was that evolution that lead me to leave the DA’s office and follow the example set by my father—who was a criminal defense attorney for more than 50 years in Los Angeles.”
His father was Joseph Truman Vodnoy, now deceased.
Pressed for details on the office discipline he incurred, the candidate said on Tuesday:
“My prior statement on the issue you are exploring remains sufficient.”
He did state that he “never filed a grievance with the DA’s Office” and “never received an unfavorable performance evaluation,” but said that he would not provide requested copies of his last three office performance evaluations.
Vodnoy has filed a declaration of an intent to seek Office No. 70. Others who have filed declarations of intent for that office—some of whom have also filed declarations for additional seats—are Deputy District Attorneys Abby Baron, Renee Yolande Chang, and Keith Koyano, Long Beach Assistant City Prosecutor Randy Fudge, Deputy Public Defender Holly L. Hancock, and family law attorney Eric Alfonso Torices.
Guiding Vodnoy’s campaign is political consultant Crystal Litz.
Copyright 2022, Metropolitan News Company