Date: March 15, 2018
SANTA ANA, Calif. – Senior Assistant District Attorney Jaime Coulter is retiring today after 29 years as a prosecutor with the Orange County District Attorney’s Office (OCDA).
Coulter grew up in the San Fernando Valley. He graduated from the University of Southern California (USC), where he received his bachelor of science degree in business administration with an emphasis in entrepreneurship. While attending USC, he played for the University’s Rugby Club. Coulter then attended Pepperdine University School of Law. During law school, he was a published member of the Pepperdine Law Review and clerked for the Compton Branch of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Following law school, Coulter served as a Deputy District Attorney in the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office before transferring to the OCDA in 1989. Coulter began his career in the OCDA as a Deputy District Attorney, where he served in the Central and North Municipal Courts, on the Felony Panel, and in the Major Fraud/ Workers’ Compensation Insurance Fraud Unit. In 1995, he was assigned as one of the first Deputy District Attorneys to serve in the OCDA Family Protection Unit, where he handled thousands of cases involving spousal, intimate partner, child, and elder abuse.
Coulter was promoted to Senior Deputy District Attorney in 2000 and served as the Office Training Deputy, where he was responsible for training all attorneys, paralegals, and Investigators. He was then assigned to the Felony Projects Unit, where he was designated to prosecute all hate crimes for the County. Coulter later achieved the role of Assistant Head of Court at the Juvenile Justice Center before being designated Assistant Head of Court of the West Justice Center. In 2007, he was promoted to Assistant District Attorney, where he served as the supervisor of the Central, Harbor, North, and South Justice Centers, as well as the supervisor of the Special Prosecutions Unit. While serving in these positions, he prosecuted People v. Jorge Miguel Romero, a high-profile case in which a distracted big-rig driver collided with a family van and killed the three young children that were seated inside.
In 2014, Coulter was promoted to Senior Assistant District Attorney, where he oversaw all Branch Court Operations.
Coulter is a California Peace Officer Standards Training instructor and instructs police officers in the investigation and prosecution of domestic violence and sexual assault crimes. He has also served as an adjunct professor in a number of law schools and paralegal programs in the areas of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Evidence, Ethics/Professional Responsibility, Constitutional Law and Employment Law. He is married and has two children.
“Jaime has irrevocably shaped the Office by further igniting the passion for justice in everyone who had the pleasure of knowing him. His contributions in training and mentoring have been especially personal and valuable,” stated District Attorney Tony Rackauckas. “He knows that every single case is important, and Orange County is a better place because of Jaime’s time with us.”
