Ron Freitas

District Attorney Ronald J. Freitas is the 42nd District Attorney to lead San Joaquin County’s chief law enforcement agency.  

A career prosecutor, Mr. Freitas has previously served the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office as the Assistant District Attorney, the Chief Deputy District Attorney of the Homicide and Gang Divisions, the Supervising Deputy District Attorney of the Gang Violence Suppression Unit, a Deputy District Attorney, and a law clerk.

Throughout his career, Mr. Freitas tried numerous gang-related murders and violent felonies.  He conducted the first scientific admissibility hearing to admit DNA evidence in San Joaquin County and prosecuted the first two dual-jury trials. He was also the first to use a gang special circumstance to obtain a death sentence. Mr. Freitas also supervised the first gang-related wire surveillance operation and was a co-founder of the San Joaquin County Gang Violence Prosecution Task Force, as well as the founder of the San Joaquin County Homicide Task Force, San Joaquin County Evidence Task Force, and the San Joaquin County Grand Jury Task Force.

As the Chief Deputy District Attorney of Homicide and Gang Divisions, he assisted in the investigation, charging determinations, and supervision of 150 murder prosecutions, including the kidnap, rape, and murder of eight-year-old Sandra Cantu (2009), the Dalene Carlson kidnap and murder (2011), and the Bank of the West bank robbery felony-murders (2014). In 2012, he successfully argued to the California Supreme Court that autopsy reports are not testimonial in People v. Dungo (2012) 55 Cal. 4th 608.

District Attorney Freitas has been published by the Pacific Law Journal, the California District Attorneys Association, and the National District Attorneys Association, and is a Chapter Author for the California Continuing Education of the Bar, Criminal Sentencing Enhancements manual.

In 2019, Mr. Freitas was elected to a two-year term on the California District Attorneys Association (CDAA) Board of Directors. Freitas is a co-chair of the CDAA Gang Violence Suppression Committee. He was the Technical Advisor of the CDAA Gang Symposium and STEP Act Prosecutions, and was the Co-Technical Advisor of the Homicide Symposium. He was the Technical Advisor of the CDAA Intro to Gang Prosecutions and the Advanced Gang Prosecutions training programs. He first taught for CDAA in 1996 and has also lectured for the National District Attorneys Association, California Gang Investigator’s Association, law enforcement, schools, and community organizations, as well as the Boalt School of Law, U.C. Berkeley, the McGeorge School of Law, and the San Joaquin Bar Association.

In 2012, he was appointed as a Board Member of the Lodi Unified School District and served 10 years on the Board, being elected President of the Board for 2015-2016 and 2020-2021.

In 2016, Mr. Freitas was president of the Yes on Measure U campaign committee, in which voters approved the issuance of $280 million in bonds for new construction and renovations in Lodi and North Stockton schools. He is a Past President of the Giving Opportunities to Kids Foundation (GOT Kids, 2019-2020), which raises over $50 thousand annually for underprivileged children to attend science camp and have a fuller educational experience.  He is a member of the Consuelo Callahan Inn of Court, and the San Joaquin County Bar Association.

In 2024, Mr. Freitas was selected as a Top 100 Alumnus of Honor for the McGeorge School of Law.  He was also recognized by Californians against Retail and Residential Theft with the Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce and the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors.  Mr. Freitas has been named the San Joaquin County Probation Officers Court Employee of the Year for 2018 and 2022. In 2017, he was named the California District Attorneys Association Instructor of the Year.

He is a graduate of the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, where he was a member of the Pacific Journal Law Review, and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

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