Sean Kallery

Hood River County District Attorney
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What qualifications and priorities do you have that make you a good choice for DA?

I served in the United State’s Army for 8.5 years as an airborne infantryman. As a non-commissioned officer in the Army, I lead soldiers both in and out of combat. As a leader, I supervised soldiers and planned operations and training to ensure that we deployed ready to work the most effectively as a team. Before starting law school, I volunteered at the National Crime Victim Law Institute and researched appellate issues involving victim’s rights and their ability to help hold defendant’s responsible for the harm suffered. As a law student, I worked in the Criminal Justice Division of the Oregon Department of Justice as a law clerk and worked on complex cases from aggravated murder to sexual violence to complex financial crimes. The Criminal Justice Division also provides assistance to the District Attorneys around the state of Oregon when they have complex issues, and I assisted with research and writing for those questions as well. Upon graduation in 2017, I started working as a Deputy District Attorney for Marion County. I have always carried a felony caseload, and in a short time I have been chosen for positions of additional responsibility. I am the DA’s liaison to the vehicular crash team, the arson team, and I handle post conviction relief cases for the office. Further, I currently handle complex felonies including homicides, home invasions, firearms cases, drug deliveries, robberies, assaults, and aggravated thefts including elder abuse.

My first priority is on communication and collaboration. I have a team focus and I work well with officers, which is why over a dozen Hood River law enforcement officers endorse me. Further, communication is absolutely necessary for a focus on victims and their rights. Communication with victims ensures that I understand their wants and needs and can best communicate those to the court. My next priority is legal acumen. I believe that a lawyer is performing at the highest level only when they actively seek knowledge on every aspect of each case they handle, and I strive to be well informed on everything I do by staying current on the newest developments in Oregon Law and evidence based approaches to criminal justice. I would expect any lawyer in my office to do the same, because it ensures protection of victim’s and defendant’s rights as well as swift and accurate pursuit of justice. Further I want to prioritize treatment options for addiction based crimes such as possession of controlled substances and mental health related public nuisance crimes. Similarly, I want to prioritize diversity within the district attorney’s office to better reflect the community that I live in and serve.

What experience do you have as a prosecutor?

My prosecutorial experience starts with my time at the Oregon Department of Justice’s Criminal Justice Division. I worked there as a law clerk from the summer of 2015 until my graduation in May of 2017. There I assisted attorneys with cases ranging from aggravated murder to complex financial cases. Further, because the Criminal Justice Division is responsible for assisting the District Attorneys with questions, I also helped field questions from the local DAs offices. At that office, I worked on complex legal issues that experienced prosecutors were calling for help with. I wrote responses to defense motions, and motions for the prosecution that were reviewed by attorneys and filed across the state. Further, I appeared as a certified law clerk on Measure 11 cases in a number of counties.

After graduation, I accepted a position in the Marion County District Attorney’s office as a Deputy District Attorney. There I’ve carried a felony caseload in a high-volume prosecution office. Because of the high volume, I’ve handled thousands of cases and I’ve gone to trial on everything from harassments to attempted murder in the first degree and arson in the first degree. Further, I’m the liaison for the vehicular crash team and the arson team, both of which require advanced expertise because they involve huge amounts of expert testimony and very specialized knowledge. In Marion county, every deputy district attorney rotates through being on call and available to answer officer questions and respond to death scenes. As a result, I’ve fielded hundreds of questions by officers at all hours of the day and night, responded to over a hundred death scenes, and observed more than 10 autopsies for homicide investigations.

In short, I have a track record of dealing with tough cases that require nuanced and detailed understanding of the law. Further, I have recent experience with a broad variety of all of the most serious cases including homicides, robberies, assaults, complex financial cases, and drug deliveries. When combined with my leadership experience, my prosecutorial experience makes me the best candidate.

What changes, if any, would you make in the administration of the department? Do you have a plan for transparency and public accountability?

With a focus on communication and collaboration, my goal is to ensure that the office has stronger relationships with community partners. That includes police agencies, which means more active an open communication during charging and investigations as well as a consistent training schedule to ensure both that police agencies are apprised of the most up to date legal developments and the prosecutors are up to date on officer’s training and experience. It includes agencies who provide treatment services to probationers. It includes the county government.

Ultimately I also want to ensure the office is present on social media. We live in a small county and is important for people to be able to see what the office is doing even when it doesn’t make the headlines.

What is your philosophy on diversion programs such as drug and mental health treatment programs as an option for low-level offenses rather than entry into the criminal justice system?

I strongly believe, and evidence has shown, that diversion programs that are accompanied by tailored treatment regimens have a positive effect on recidivism given the benefit to the defendant for successfully completing the program. Further, in a county that is strapped for resources, dealing with a lean budget, with a relatively small caseload, diversion programs could stand in for treatment courts with the correct probation officer training and community partner participation.

In short, for low-level, non-violent, first-time offenders who have addiction or mental health concerns that are related to their criminal activity, diversion presents a strong option.

Have you managed budgets and offices with staff before? What is your plan for the long term financial stability of the District Attorney’s Office?

Yes, I have directly supervised hundreds of soldiers both in combat and in garrison, which also includes office environments. While I did not have to budget for those soldiers, I did have to plan missions and training which included provisioning those soldiers, often on incredibly short time lines. Budgeting and provisioning ultimately involved identical concepts: one must reconcile the resources available with the needs required by the task at hand. Further, as a prosecutor I handle complex financial cases so I understand how to follow the flow of money.

Further, in preparation for running for district attorney, I spoke with John Sewell, the current District Attorney, about his budget. I’ve also spoken to past and present county commissioners. I understand the budget as it currently stands, and I’ve spoken to a number of people about securing funding for public safety. Ultimately, the best way to secure funding is to ensure the public understands what the District Attorney office does and why fully funding the office is important. While there are limited grants, the vast majority of grants cannot help ensure long term financial stability for several reasons, and it would be unwise to plan a DA office budget around grants.

First, grants are generally short term, lasting a couple of years. Second, grants typically focus on very specific needs. Funding a very particular program for a short time with a grant may be possible, but there is no grant to my knowledge that would help fund criminal prosecution in general at all much less for the long term. In other words, grant money would not sustain a long term employee in the DAs office but it could help support a special project to improve and rejuvenate the office in small ways for a big impact. Smaller grants could be used to send prosecutors to special training to improve knowledge of the latest up to date issues in the justice system.

Another issue with grants is ensuring we have a large enough population to support the need for the grant. Take, for example, the DUII court that Hood River County currently has. It is grant funded and, because Hood River has a high percentage of diversion ineligible DUII drivers, there is a population large enough to support the grant. In contrast, grant money may be available for a veteran’s court, but Hood River does not have enough veteran’t court eligible defendant’s to support such a court. That is why I believe alternative means for addressing defendant populations with specific addiction or mental health needs, such as diversion programs, would be more efficient and effective.

Finally, transitioning the office to a paperless system would help reduce some cost in the office and streamline work, ensuring the most effective use of county resources.

How do you envision your office interacting with ICE? Do you support using NORCOR to detain undocumented immigrants beyond the time they would have spent for state and/or local offenses in order to accommodate immigration authorities?

My role as District Attorney of Hood River County will be to prosecute violations of state law and recommend a sentence for those violations that comports with state law. Justice is served when a defendant, once convicted, serves his or her allotted sentence.