What does your job entail?
I oversee seven “sections” within the Attorney General’s Office: the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy, Special Prosecutions, the Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission, Health Care Fraud, Crime Victims and Criminal Justice. There are about 670 employees within those sections, and their responsibilities are wide-ranging.
How did your experience prepare you for this role?
My experience working as a prosecutor in various places has taught me what is needed in the criminal justice process, including investigations, trial preparation and proceedings, and the appellate process. And, just as important, I have learned the value of treating everyone in the process — victims, law enforcement, defense attorneys and others — with courtesy, respect, honesty and compassion.
What are your priorities for how your sections of the Attorney General’s Office will work with local law enforcement?
First, let me say that I have the utmost admiration and respect for the men and women in law enforcement, who dedicate their lives to keeping us all safe. It is an honor and privilege to work with them on a daily basis.
The primary mission of BCI and OPOTA is to support law enforcement. OPOTA supports law enforcement by making sure its educational offerings are relevant and impactful – as well as fulfilling statutory requirements, of course. BCI provides expert criminal investigative services upon request – and the special agents, including crime-scene and other investigative agents, are on call 24/7 to offer investigative assistance at crime scenes.
It is important to me that local law enforcement understands that we are here to assist. It is not our role to “butt in” and take over but, rather, to work cooperatively to solve crimes and bring criminals to justice.
What first got you interested in a career in criminal justice?
Perry Mason – and anyone under 40 (maybe even 50) will probably have to Google that name. I decided in grade school that I wanted to be Perry Mason, the defense attorney who defended dozens of falsely accused people and managed to clear each and every one of them, usually by drawing out the real criminal on the witness stand through a masterful cross-examination.
So I became the complete opposite — a prosecutor who’s never had a witness confess on the stand. But I still love conducting a good courtroom cross-examination.
Why did you want this job?
Good law enforcement is all about cooperation — at every level. It is about working with other agencies to get the best result — to protect our citizens and to bring criminals to justice.
What I have learned over the past 35 years is that I cannot “do justice” on my own. Every single case I have touched has involved collaboration with police officers or sheriff’s deputies, forensic scientists, analysts, advocates and myriad other people within the justice system.
I see this job as an opportunity to increase cooperation between our office and the various law enforcement entities in Ohio and to enhance our ability to protect our Ohio citizens. I see this job as an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of every citizen in Ohio.
Bio box
Hometown: Born and raised in Maumee, now lives in Delaware, Ohio
Family: husband, William Owen, first assistant prosecuting attorney for Marion County; stepson Sean Owen and his wife, Mhel, and their two daughters; son Patrick O’Brien, a tech sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, and his wife, Ashley, and their two daughters; and sons Eamon O’Brien and Timothy O’Brien
Education: Maumee High School; bachelor’s degree in political science from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois; doctorate in law from the University of Toledo College of Law
Past roles: Delaware County prosecutor, 2011-19; assistant Delaware prosecutor, 2007-11; Ohio Attorney General’s Office, assistant chief of the Civil Rights Section, assistant attorney general of the Corrections Litigation Section and chief legal officer of the Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission, 1995-2007; assistant Franklin County prosecutor, chief of the Economic and Organized Crime Sections, 1989-95; as well as previous roles with The Ohio State University College of Law, Neighborhood Legal Assistance Program in Charleston, South Carolina, and Advocates for Basic Legal Equality in Defiance