By Steven C. Sabbadini
I have over 40 years of experience defending persons charged with crimes in Yolo County. I have known Jeff Reisig professionally for 25 of those years, from when he started as a Deputy District Attorney in Yolo County.
As a business owner and a person who lives and has raised a family in this county, I am interested in protecting the safety of our community. We need a District Attorney who can be tough when the facts and circumstances warrant toughness. Jeff can do that. Likewise, we need a District Attorney with excellent prosecutorial discretion in cases where the facts and circumstances regarding the crime or the defendant warrant understanding and compassion, rehabilitation and a second chance. Jeff can do that as well.
I have seen Jeff progress, change policy and evolve with the times. There is a reason why the Sacramento Bee said in an October 2021 editorial that “CA’s most Innovative prosecutor might be in Yolo County.” The Bee also called him “an ideal 
district attorney” and “model chief prosecutor” in their very recent endorsement of him for DA. He has been open to learn from the data and current studies to establish policies that are in line with those studies. In fact, for many years he has been at the forefront of significant change to the criminal justice system in Yolo County in terms of being a leader in California to establish restorative justice programs, mental health and addiction intervention courts, diversion policies for first time drug offenders, racially blind charging protocols, retroactive sentencing reviews and other such programs. He was the second DA in the state to offer restorative justice to adult offenders, rather than traditional prosecution. Though restorative justice has been around for many years for juveniles, this is not the case for adults. Many of my clients have been on the receiving end of the benefits of these policies and programs and have gone on to be productive members of our community.
The District Attorney occupies a position of utmost responsibility in our community. That position should be filled by a person who has the qualifications, experience and capability of rationally balancing the many interests involved. Jeff has a bona fide track record of doing just that. Jeff Reisig has the qualities to shoulder that responsibility in a manner that would benefit all members of our community and that will ensure that Yolo County remains a great place in which to live, work and raise a family.
Steven Sabbadini is an Attorney in Woodland
