San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis announced Friday that Deputy District Attorney Mark Amador was named prosecutor of the year by the California District Attorneys Association at its annual installation dinner and awards program. The award recognizes stellar work by a prosecutor.
“I am so proud of Deputy DA Mark Amador,” DA Dumanis said. “His tenacity, perseverance, professionalism, work ethic and dedication to justice make him a role model for attorneys throughout the state. He is clearly one of the finest and we’re lucky to have him pursuing justice in San Diego.”
Over the past 5 years, Amador has dedicated himself to the Los Palillos prosecution, a case involving 17 defendants, nine murders and 15 kidnappings by a rogue cell of the Arellano-Felix Organization. This is one of — if not the largest — murder prosecutions in the history of San Diego County.
Amador first became involved in the case during its investigation and was responsible for taking action that saved the life of one of the group’s hostages. Additionally, he presented evidence at a two-month grand jury hearing, and prosecuted five trials, for which he spent a total of 21 actual months in trial, acting as lead prosecutor in three of them and co-chairing the other two.
The DDA was also involved in the death penalty trial of the leaders of the organization that lasted more than a year, and involved hundreds of motions, the six-week testimony of a confidential informant, testimony of reticent family members of the victims, many of whom themselves were incarcerated, strategic character attacks on Amador and allegations of misconduct.