Why Would LA Voters Elect A City Attorney Who Has Never Tried A Case In Court In Front Of A Jury?

OP-ED - I am writing to my neighbors over my deep concern about the candidacy of Marissa Roy for Los Angeles City Attorney.  This candidate is unfit for this office.

While residents rarely pay attention to the office of City Attorney, I have extensive experience with the office, and with several previous city attorneys.  Having served as a Legislative Analyst for the Los Angeles City Council, I have seen the significant influence that the city attorney has on city legislation, litigation and even the positions the city takes on legislation in Sacramento, for example. 

Further, several previous city attorneys, including Mike Feuer and Carmen Trutanich, had an open-door policy towards resident groups.  Trutanich even joined our organization’s lawsuit against the Coastal Commission when it denied a permit for Overnight Restricted Parking for Venice residents. 

The current city attorney, Hydee Feldstein Soto, refused to meet with our organization on the question of enforcement of the “No Oversize Vehicles 2-6 AM” ordinance, leaving scores of RVs and campers to park for months - even years in some cases – on Venice streets.  Roy’s opponent, John Mckinney, has pledged to meet with resident groups on this and other matters.

Ms. Roy’s many deficits are well reported.  An investigation reported by Westside Current found that Roy misrepresented her legal career in her official campaign biography, stating that her career began as a "Deputy City Attorney" at the L.A. City Attorney's Office. However, official records reviewed in their report indicated that she was actually an unpaid intern during that time.

According to reports by The California Post, Roy helped shape a 2022 campaign plan that advocated for a 100-day freeze on filing new misdemeanor prosecutions. Reviving such a policy would give a "free pass" to offenses like theft, vandalism, and trespassing, negatively impacting neighborhood safety and quality-of-life.

In May 2026, campaign finance filings reviewed by the Southern California News Group revealed that a cluster of law firms that have sued the city of Los Angeles—and secured millions of dollars in city payouts—emerged as significant financial contributors to Roy’s campaign. So, she is already in bed with plaintiffs’ attorneys before she’s in office.  Apparently, these donors think that she will just authorize multi-million-dollar settlements and not defend the city, which is the job she is running for. 

Roy’s progressive platform includes public statements that she would not enforce certain existing city laws, such as the anti-camping statute (Municipal Code 41.18) that keeps areas near schools, childcare centers, and parks, beaches, libraries and freeway underpasses free of encampments.  In Venice, this would invalidate the camping bans by the Venice Library, Windward and Market by the beach, Third and Rose by Public Storage, and the Safran Senior Center on the Boardwalk at Ozone, inviting the return of the third-world refugee camps we saw during Mike Bonin’s tenure.

Her most significant deficit is that she has never tried a case in front of a jury, leaving her unequipped to manage the city's complex litigation and liability costs.

On the other hand, John McKinney, a UCLA Law School graduate, joined the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office in 1997 and from the beginning handled busy misdemeanor calendars, preliminary hearings, and trials.  During his nearly 30-year career at the DA's Office, John tried nearly forty murder cases, including the killing of Grammy Award-winning artist Nipsey Hussle and the murderers of Xinran Ji, a gifted engineering student at USC. In each case, he carried the weight of the victim’s story into the courtroom. Every defendant John prosecuted for murder was convicted. Every victim’s humanity was honored.

He currently is the Bureau Director for Specialized Operations, where he manages over 300 deputy district attorneys; Roy has no similar management experience.

Let’s elect a real trial attorney to defend the city of Los Angeles and prosecute crime, not a social activist.

(Mark E. Ryavec is president of the Venice Stakeholders Association and a public affairs consultant. A former legislative analyst for the Los Angeles City Council and chief deputy to the county assessor, he has worked extensively on public safety, homelessness, housing and coastal protection.)