I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri and graduated from Missouri Baptist University. I spent my college years and most of my twenties playing baseball and working odd jobs that included coaching college baseball, used car salesperson, and working at T. Rowe Price as a licensed broker. I was thirty years old when I decided to pursue a law degree at Thomas Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan. I attended my first semester criminal law class and decided then that I wanted to pursue a career in criminal law.
I spent one semester interning in Reno for Robert “Bob” Perry, who at that time was one of the best plaintiff lawyers in the State and later went on to become a District Court Judge. I fell in love with Northern Nevada, including the beautiful weather and the friendly people, and decided to make it my permanent home.
I started working with the Washoe County Public Defender Office in 1997. For the first seven months I did juvenile work until the Assistant Public Defender walked into my office on the Thursday before Labor Day weekend and told me I would be trying an attempted murder case the Tuesday after Labor Day. I worked all weekend on the case and I was hooked. The opening day of trial was my first day in District Court. For the last 25 years I have worked on everything from misdemeanor to felonies to murder trials. I spent 18 years working in the juvenile division, where I helped youth from all walks of life. Those years were some of the most challenging and rewarding periods in my career as an attorney.
Over the years, I have devoted my free time to helping the kids in our community through various means. I was a mock trial coach at Wooster High School, working with their program to qualify for the state tournament in Las Vegas. I have coached the kids of Centennial Little League during the regular baseball seasons and the All-Star tournaments. I have also coached a travel baseball team and supported both the Velocity and Wolfpack baseball programs.
I have been married to my wife Angela for nineteen years. We have lived in Sparks for the past fifteen years and have a twelve-year-old daughter and a fourteen-year-old son.