Mark Amador has served as a prosecutor for 30 years in the San Diego District Attorney’s Office. During that time, he has tried over 100 cases to jury, including domestic violence, elder abuse, violent gang crimes and sexual assault.

 

For the better part of two decades Mr. Amador focused on the prosecution of members of criminal organizations in complex litigation. He is credited with trying the longest criminal case in the history of San Diego—a death penalty case involving members of a Mexican Drug Cartel charged with 9 murders, multiple kidnappings and an attempted assassination of a police officer.  That trial lasted 15 months.

 

Mr. Amador has worked extensively with local and federal law enforcement over the years. He is a state-wide instructor in the law. His areas of expertise include evidence, discovery, professional ethics, and trial skills. He is also a guest law school instructor at USD law school and for undergraduate courses at USCD, USD and SDSU.

 

Beyond his trial work, Mr. Amador has extensive experience in appellate law, having served as the Division Chief of the DA’s Office’s Appellate and Training Division for more than five years. He currently leads a unit devoted to the implementation of new California legislation that requires review and resentencing of prior cases.

 

Mr. Amador received his Bachelor of Arts degree in history and political science at UCLA and earned his Juris Doctor at the University of San Diego Law School.