Special Section
PERSONALITY PROFILE:
DAVIANN MITCHELL
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She’s a Consummate Judge, Dog-Breeder, Ex-Prosecutor, One-Time Police Officer
By Sherri Okamoto
Dogs and their owners, according to Psychology Today, often have similar personality traits. The life and career of Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Daviann Mitchell provides anecdotal evidence that perhaps the same is true of dogs and their breeder.
Mitchell is a life-long dog aficionado turned elite breeder of Rottweilers and Cavalier King Charles Spaniels.
Likening a particular judge to a dog might appear, at first blush, to be demeaning, but Mitchell is not apt to be offended by note being made of admirable attributes she shares with her four-footed compadres.
Rottweilers and Cavaliers are known for their intelligence; Mitchell is regarded as a judge with a sharp mind. The two breeds are marked by pleasant dispositions; Mitchell, though not one to be bullied, is said to be endowed with ideal temperament for the bench. Rottweilers, in particular, are characteristically calm and confident; the judge comes across as unflappable.
Both breeds are working dogs; Mitchell devotes long hours to her job. In fact, throughout her legal career, she has never shied away from laborious tasks, whether prosecuting gang cases, running in a crowded field for a spot on the bench, or presiding over complex litigation.
Mitchell was born and reared in the San Fernando Valley. As a child, she was active and athletic, but not particularly scholarly. Mitchell says she would bring home report cards with an A in physical education, a B in math and science, and a C for everything else.
When she got to high school, her parents moved her from the public school system to Argyll Academy which, at the time, was an all-girls school.
The smaller class sizes allowed for more individualized attention from the teachers, and Mitchell flourished, graduating with academic honors while being recognized as an “American academic high school athlete.” She played volleyball, softball and basketball while also holding down a job after school and on weekends grooming dogs at a local pet store, as well as grooming horses at a nearby stable where she took riding lessons.
Mitchell says her parents always wanted the best for her and her brother, and it was important to them that both children attend college. Mitchell initially enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles, to stay close to home, but she later transferred to the University of California, Berkeley.
Mitchell says she made the switch because UCLA did not offer a degree in zoology, and that is what she wanted to pursue. She loved animals and wanted a career involving them, but since she was squeamish about blood, veterinary science was out.
“I went from wanting to train whales and marine animals to horses, to dogs,” Mitchell recalls. But while the intended subject of her degree changed over time, Mitchell wasted no time finishing her studies. She graduated in just three years.
Graduation Present
Her parents promised to give her a dog as a graduation present. “I’d washed enough dogs by then to know I wanted a dog with short hair and no tail” she relates. This combination meant less shedding and eliminated the prospect of the dog clearing the coffee table with one wag of the tail. Mitchell says she considered boxers and Doberman Pinschers, but decided on a Rottweiler because of the breed’s temperament.
Mitchell’s parents got her Mick, and she trained the dog to become a certified police service dog because Mitchell had by then shifted her plans from aspiring to be an animal trainer to wanting to join law enforcement.
“It was not my parent’s first choice for me, by a long shot,” Mitchell recalls. “They would have been happy if I went to medical school or into the escrow business, like my dad and my brother, but I didn’t have an interest in that.”
Mitchell says she knew she wanted to work in a “community service-type” position because her parents had instilled in her a sense of civic duty and a desire to “give back” to her community. And besides, the police department had dogs.
She joined the Sacramento Police Department, where she was assigned to narcotics enforcement, trained dogs and taught classes in training police service dogs. Mitchell also taught a course in criminal justice at Los Rios Community College.
Unfortunately, Mitchell’s career as a police officer was cut short when she tore a ligament in her foot while jumping a fence in pursuit of a rape suspect. The suspect was apprehended, but Mitchell’s foot did not heal well and ultimately led her to a medical retirement.
Enters Law School
Mitchell returned to Los Angeles to be closer to her family and enrolled at Southwestern Law School. Mitchell was accepted on the law review and made many friends, including classmates Frank Tavelman and Hayden Zacky, who are both fellow Los Angeles Superior Court judges now.
Mitchell was also one of nine persons selected nationwide, and the only woman, to be selected by the U.S. Department of Justice Honors Program for a summer internship with the Criminal Tax Division. She worked in Los Angeles at the Buchalter law firm (formerly known as Buchalter, Nemer, Fields and Younger) as well.
While Mitchell has fond memories of her time with Buchalter, she realized she wanted to pursue a career in criminal law. She says it was “a natural progression” to go from law enforcement to being a prosecutor.
After graduation, she served as a law clerk to Nevada Chief Justice Charles Springer. Once Mitchell returned to Los Angeles after her clerkship, she spent a brief time doing civil litigation before joining the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office in 1994.
Mitchell prosecuted domestic violence, child abuse and sex crimes before joining the Hardcore Gang Division. Over the course of 12 years, she tried more than 100 felony jury cases—some involving heinous crimes—attaining a 95% conviction rate.
Defense Lawyer’s Praise
Defense attorney Curt Leftwich says he first met Mitchell when she was prosecuting a special circumstances murder case against his client. Although they were courtroom adversaries, Mitchell was “terrific” to work with, Leftwich recalls. “She was open, transparent, honest, and conscientious, and she carried that over into being a judge.”
Leftwich says that “when you walk into her courtroom now, you know you’re going to get a fair shot,” and while “you certainly may not agree with her on everything, you know she’s going to listen and follow the law.”
Mitchell is “very smart, and driven,” Leftwich says, but she always remains “cordial and friendly,” because “she cares, and she’s patient.” He adds that Mitchell is “just a really good person” for whom he has “a lot of respect.”
Nate Holden’s Support
Former California State Sen. Nate Holden was a Los Angeles City Council member when he met Mitchell in 2006, the year she was running for a Superior Court open seat. “I was very impressed with her approach that she took in the campaign, and the things she stood for,” he recalls. Holden would go to events with Mitchell and promised his constituents, “She’ll give a fair hearing, and that’s all we ask for in a courtroom.” Since then, Holden says, “I’ve gotten no complaints from anyone I asked to vote for her about her being fair in her deliberations.”
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Mitchell poses for a family photo, with her brother Marc, daughter Mary Ann, father Dave and mother Mary Ann, after being sworn-in as Los Angeles Superior Court judge in 2007. |
The two have also remained friends. “This is a friendship that will last forever, in my view,” Holden says.
Former Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine says he can also trace his friendship with Mitchell back to that campaign. “She’s such a wonderful lady,” Zine enthuses. “I remember campaigning with her, knowing she’d be a wonderful member of the bench.”
Mitchell has developed “a stellar reputation” as a judge, and “I’m happy to see her continuing to serve,” Zine says. “She maintains the dignity and honor of the bench.”
Zine adds:
“I consider her to be one of the premiere Superior Court judges,” explaining:
“She’s fair, very balanced, objective, and really, just, honorable.”
The year Mitchell ran for judge, she tried 10 gang murder cases to verdict all while managing her campaign and raising her young daughter as a single mom. She joined a field of six seeking the seat left open after Judge Michael E. Knight retired in 2006. She handily defeated then-Workers’ Compensation Judge John C. Gutierrez in a run-off election, on her birthday, Nov. 7.
Met Future Husband
In the lead-up to the election, Mitchell participated in an interview with the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Judicial Elections Evaluations Committee. The chairperson at the time was attorney Brent Braun.
Mitchell says Braun was “very encouraging” of the candidates, which helped lessen their worries and stress going through the evaluation process. She later contacted Braun after the ratings were issued to thank him for “making a difficult situation easier.”
Sometime later, Mitchell was meeting her mother and daughter near where Braun worked. Braun came over to meet the trio, and they all went to dinner together. Mitchell says she remembers sitting at the restaurant thinking, “he’s really nice, he’s really, really nice, and he loves dogs.”
Of course, she says, Braun “didn’t know what that last bit meant to me at the time.”
The couple wed in 2011, with then-Los Angeles Superior Court Assistant Presiding Judge David S. Wesley (now retired) performing the ceremony.
Mitchell says she and Braun are “both type-A personalities,” but Braun declares Mitchell is “like a quintuple type-A personality” who “makes a person with a type-A personality look like a slacker.”
Breeding Rottweilers
In addition to her successful legal career, Mitchell has been breeding and showing Rottweilers since 1982. She is now one of only two persons in the United States with Platinum American Kennel Club Breeder of Merit status in the history of the breed. Mitchell later added Cavalier King Charles Spaniels to her breeding program, and she has produced more than 125 titled dogs and 100 champions in both breeds.
She raises, trains and handles dogs in competition, and sometimes judges competitions. Mitchell’s dogs are highly decorated, not only for their good looks in breed conformation shows, but also their intelligence and training in agility, obedience, herding, cart work, dock diving and scent work competitions.
On any given day, Mitchell rises early, whether she has dogs or cases to tend to. She travels for dog shows on weekends. On weekdays, she is known for often putting in 10-hour days, or more, in court. “But I come home every night and make dinner,” Mitchell says. “It’s important to me to sit down as a family and share our day.”
Sunday night dinner is extra special. Mitchell always spent Sunday night having dinner with her grandparents as a child, and she continued the tradition with her own daughter and both parents, until the death of her mother in 2023.
Mitchell says watching her parents, how they conducted themselves, and how hard they worked, gave her the work ethic she has today. It is not surprising that Mitchell embodies her parents’ traits since her own name is an amalgamation of theirs—Dave, and Mary Ann. Mitchell also bestowed her mother’s name on her daughter.
Charity work was also “a huge part of our family,” and “part of what defines me,” Mitchell adds. “In my life, I’ve always tried to give back and pay things forward.”
Her parents were philanthropic supporters of the City of Hope for more than 40 years, and that led to Braun now heading up “The Chancellors”— a group of attorneys, judges, executive-level law enforcement officials and other professionals who raise money for cancer research.
Kelly’s Remarks
Patrick M. Kelly, a former State Bar president, says he met Mitchell through his friendship with Braun, and “Daviann was integral in helping Brent get The Chancellors up and running.”
Kelly says Mitchell “is one of those persons who puts her money where her mouth is,” and she “is very active in charitable causes” because “her interest is in helping people in the community.”
Mitchell also is “very straight up and straightforward in the way she feels about things, and the way she articulates those feelings,” Kelly says. “It’s an admirable trait,” and one that serves her well as a judge, the lawyer opines. “She’s a wonderful and committed person” with her professional life, and her “whole other life” as a dog breeder and trainer, and as a friend, Kelly declares.
Mitchell says she’s starting to contemplate retirement in a few years, and she notes that she hopes her dedication to the service of others will be her legacy.
“Every choice I’ve made along the way has been about helping others,” Mitchell reflects. As a police officer, she was protecting the public, and as a prosecutor, she was drawn to the assignments with “people-driven crimes.” Now, she says, she works hard at being fair and prepared for every case, making sure “justice is served” while staying respectful to everyone before her, no matter how abrasive or combative.
Mitchell says she learned how to deescalate situations as a police officer, and that it has served her well on the bench. Another helpful lesson was how to avoid “getting pulled down a rabbit hole” and led off-target or goaded into an emotional response.
Appellate Court’s Praise
Div. One of the Court of Appeal for this district took note of Mitchell’s skills in its 2021 decision in People v. McKenzie, observing the record showed she “remained calm and patient,” and “deftly managed the proceedings under challenging circumstances with a defendant who was determined to disrupt the courtroom.” San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Rita Coyne Federman, sitting on assignment, specifically commended Mitchell for her “careful and diligent approach to documenting the record to enable meaningful appellate review.”
Two years later, Div. Eight of the Court of Appeal for this district, in an opinion by then-Justice Madeleine I. Flier (now retired) again praised Mitchell in People v. Jeong for “the patience, restraint and fairness” with which she handled a lawyer, Deirdre O’Connor, “who made false statements to the court and whose conduct was disrespectful in the extreme.”
Mitchell spent six years handling long-cause felony trials at the Antelope Valley Courthouse, managing a case load consisting of the most complex and sophisticated felony trial cases found in the criminal justice system: those with multiple defendants, first-degree murder cases, death penalty cases, child abuse cases, and the like. She has presided over 200 jury trials and served on numerous court committees as well.
Both Spouses Honored
Mitchell was the Antelope Valley Bar Association judge of the year in 2015, and she was the assistant Supervising Judge of the North District in 2023. Now, she and Braun also join rarified company as the third married couple to both be MetNews persons of the year—though they are not being honored together, Braun having been feted separately two years ago.
Mitchell says she is gratified that both she and Braun are recipients of the same award, and that it was not for something they did together.
While they make an effective team, she says they have their individual pursuits, as she thinks that makes for a healthier relationship.
Braun remarks that “it’s always nice to share the stage with Daviann,” but says he is glad to see her recognized in her own right.
“I get to see a side of her that a lot of people don’t get to see,” Braun says. “To most, she’s this no-nonsense, all-business kind of judge” but there is “compassion and a genuine concern for people’s welfare” underneath the seemingly stern façade, he notes.
“I think the dogs see that with her,” Braun adds. “They know she’s really a sweetheart.”
As a judge, Mitchell demonstrates “the highest levels of integrity and honesty that anyone could ever aspire to,” Braun declares. “She’s a consummate professional, and the quintessential impartial jurist” who is unmatched in “her intellect, her legal competence and her ability to manage a courtroom.”
Even after all the years together, Braun says Mitchell sometimes surprises him “when something I thought would be her point of view on turns out not to be her point of view.” When that happens “she’s always got a great rationale for why she came to that conclusion, whatever it might have been,” and “it makes you think, she’s got a point,” Braun says. This insightfulness and mental flexibility show in Mitchell’s track record of decisions, because “something like 90% of the time she’s upheld by the Court of Appeal,” and the few times she is reversed, it’s “often because the law subsequently changed, or a procedural or technical issue,” Braun claims. “In my mind, that validates her ability to discern and properly decide very complex legal issues.”
‘Well Respected Judge’
Former Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich says Mitchell is “a well-respected judge,” and “a good friend.”
He praises Mitchell for being “so multitalented” with both her “judicial prudence” and her champion breeding programs.
Former Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley—who will emcee the Jan. 31 “Person of the Year” Dinner, comments that “if you had to describe Daviann in two words it would be ‘tough’ and ‘courageous.’ ”
Cooley says, “She was tough and courageous as a police officer, as a prosecutor, and now as a judge.”
As a deputy district attorney, Cooley recalls, Mitchell “was renowned for the workload that she took on prosecuting some of the most vicious and dangerous criminals in Los Angeles County,” and she was “prolific in achieving convictions.”
Having seen Mitchell in the courtroom, Cooley says she is “very knowledgeable in the law and fair in its application.”
And he’s seen Mitchell on the dog show circuit too, because his wife, Jana, competes with her Welsh Springer Spaniels. Mitchell’s dogs are always “top-notch,” Cooley says.
‘Knows the Law’
Attorney R. Rex Parris, who is mayor of Lancaster, says Mitchell “knows the law” and “there’s no question who controls the courtroom” when she’s on the bench. Parris even had the unique opportunity to see Mitchell in action as a prospective juror, but he only survived “about 10 minutes” before being excused, he recounts.
“She was a smart, tough D.A. and she’s a smart, tough judge,” Parris comments.
Attorney/businessman Alan Skobin, a former member of the Los Angeles Police Commission, says Mitchell is “a really wonderful person in so many ways.”
As a judge, she “places a high priority on seeing justice is done, and being fair to all parties,” Skobin says. “She is respectful towards all, and she works very, very hard to come up with thoughtful and correct decisions.”
Mitchell’s law enforcement background has given her “a very strong sense of justice and always doing the right thing,” and “she’s just a very balanced, principled person,” Skobin says. “Plus she’s a very nice person, and she loves dogs, so how can you go wrong with that?”
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell praises Mitchell as “someone known for her fairness holding people accountable but showing appropriate levels of compassion for those involved in the justice system.”
Mitchell “brings a tremendous and varied background to her role as a judge” she is “measured in her approach” to meting out justice, “with a comprehensive understanding and appreciation for those involved in the criminal justice system,” he comments.
Deputy District Attorney Tom Hilton says he was the calendar deputy in Mitchell’s courtroom for several years, and he’s had about a dozen trials with Mitchell presiding. “She’s great,” Mitchell says. “Very professional, very diligent, and very hardworking.”
He recalls that Mitchell was “always willing to offer advice, or a review of what happened, after an appropriate time” after a trial, which was quite helpful to him when he was starting out. “She’s someone I definitely admire,” and “just a pleasure to work with,” Hilton says.
Seven-Year-Old Fan
Depuy District Attorney Matt Allen says, “I think the world of Judge Mitchell,” but notes his daughter may hold Mitchell in even higher esteem.
He explains that he had brought his seven-year- old to court with him on “bring you daughter to work day” and Mitchell invited him and the child into chambers. The child, who is normally effusive and talkative, clammed up in Mitchell’s presence. Despite coaxing, she would barely utter a single word. Later on, Allen says, “she asks me, ‘Was that the president of the United States?’ ”
Now his daughter wants to be a judge, and draws pictures of herself on the bench. Maybe she needs to get a pet dog too.
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