My Story

I come from a family who dedicated their careers to the legal profession and public service. My Grandfather Henry F. Marx served as police chief in Port Huron, Michigan. My grandmother Jerry worked for the Federal Appellate Court in the District of Columbia.

When my father, Herbert Hood, was discharged from the Navy after World War II, he returned from the Pacific Theater with both a desire to study the law and, unfortunately, a case of tuberculosis. Attending Gonzaga University, he completed the last months of his studies from a hospital bed overcoming tuberculosis and the loss of one lung. He eventually became a lawyer for The United States Army Training and Doctrine Command, and in the course of his service we traveled to California, throughout Japan and then to Virginia.

After a childhood devoted more to soccer than studies, I headed west to work my way through San Francisco State University. I studied the social sciences and focused on criminal justice, and found that I loved it; I was appointed to the Dean’s List each year and graduated cum laude.

Feeling that I had found my path, I drove a fork lift for a sweltering summer in the southern California desert of Indio, in order to save money for law school.

When Fall arrived I attended the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento. But after the first three months, Dean Gordon Shaber took me aside and suggested that perhaps I should consider saving my hard-earned money for something other than law school tuition. I went home that night and thought of my grandmother's efforts to work in the legal profession, and my father studying in a tuberculosis ward. I realized that my desire had to be matched by hard work.

At the end of my first year, Dean Shaber called me back into his office. I had made Dean’s List, I had received the highest score given in Evidence, and I would be eligible for scholarships so that I could complete my studies.

I dedicated myself throughout the remainder of my education. I was again named to the Dean’s list every year, I was selected for the Traynor Honor Society and I graduated in the top 5% of my class. The Office of the United States Attorney accepted me into the Magistrate’s Program, where I covered a three-court circuit handling misdemeanor and petty crimes on Federal Land. It was in that program that I got my first taste of trial work, and by the time I graduated from law school I had numerous trials under my belt. My father attended my graduation, where I received the Order of the Coif for excellence in legal scholastic achievement.

After graduation I joined the San Francisco law firm of Long & Levit and practiced in many areas, including professional malpractice defense, insurance law, construction law and some personal injury work. However, I was neither comfortable with the trappings of a prestigious law firm, nor was I spending enough time in the courtroom, where I felt the most at home. I realized that public service was where my heart was. I left Long & Levit and took a position with the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.

During my first day at the office I heard that an attorney handling a time sensitive case was sick and jury selection was starting the next day. I volunteered to help, and was picking a jury 15 hours later. Since that day more than 18 years ago I have handled thousands of cases, including murder, manslaughter, rape, arson, bank robbery, kidnapping, domestic violence, embezzlement, white collar crime, and identity theft.

In addition to work in the office, I spent a lot of time with students. I spent several years coaching a High School Mock Trial team as well as judging trial competitions. I was also a founding director and remain an officer and director with Safe Haven Animal Sanctuary, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the care of "special needs" animals.

I met my wonderful wife, Jeanne Heinzen, on a backpacking trip. Although I had spent some time in Steinbeck country before I met Jeanne, she was the one who really showed it to me. I grew to love this community more than any I had ever visited, and have now lived in Monterey County longer than I have lived anywhere else. Our seven-year-old daughter Emma and five-year-old son Robert were born here. Monterey County is my home, it is where I am raising my children, and it is the place to which I want to dedicate the rest of my public service career.