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Executive Board Members
Paula Myers has been a member of the Alliance since its inception. She has been involved in the planning of the Justice Educational Conferences in San Diego and participates in various legislative and advocacy efforts. She became Chair in 2004. Paula is the Victim
Services Director for the San Diego County chapter of MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving). She has been involved
with MADD since being struck and injured by a drunk driver in 1989. Her major
focus with MADD is on the courts and advocacy programs. She produces 7 monthly
Victim Impact Panels, works directly with victims of impaired driving
collisions, serves as a media spokesperson and is the local law enforcement
liaison.
Mr. Dahle has been a Deputy with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office since 1978. He is currently assigned as the Head of Lifer Hearings Parole Division. Mr. Dahle prosecuted a wide variety of criminal cases in courts as a Deputy District Attorney. He has prosecuted felony cases of murder, robbery, illicit drug sales, burglary and theft offenses. Since 1989 he has served in office administration and site supervisor as deputy-in-charge of three different area offices in Los Angeles, as chief of employee relations, assistant division head deputy in three branch operations and currently as head of the largest parole hearing unit in California. Mr. Dahle earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and a Master’s degree in public administration at USC and received a Juris Doctorate degree from Southwestern University. He is a former active duty Air Force officer and is currently retired from the Air Force Reserve.
Jessica Heskin has been a member of the Alliance since 2001 and became a member of the Executive Board in 2006. She is the coordinator for the Violence and Sexual Assault Support Services at California State University, Sacramento. She has a B.A., Double Major—English and Women’s Studies and a M.A. Behavioral Sciences in Education—Women’s Studies Option from the California State University, Sacramento. She is also nationally credentialed as an intermediate level sexual assault advocate and a domestic violence victim advocate through the National Organization of Victim Assistance. Ms. Heskin has extensively studied the issue of sexual violence, particularly in relation to the educational system and has testified on several bills concerning sexual violence. Ms. Heskin has been a member of the Sacramento County Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) for over five years, and has responded as an advocate to hundreds of sexual assault cases in the Sacramento area. Ms. Heskin has conducted numerous trainings for sexual assault emergency responders, as well as law enforcement, medical doctors, and counselors. She conducts classes on drug facilitated sexual assault for employees and volunteers of the Sacramento rape crisis center (WEAVE) as well as the CSUS community. Ms. Heskin presented at the 2nd International GHB Conference in 2004, as well as six other state conferences across the country. She also was a featured speaker at the First Annual Explosion Youth Leadership Conference, as well as participant in numerous panels concerning Third Wave Feminism, Healthy Sexuality, Drug Facilitated Rape, Sexual Harassment, Women as Sex Workers, Women in the Prison System, Women and Policing, and Sexual Violence. Ms. Heskin is also a professor for the Los Rios Community College District where she teaches Human Sexuality and Psychology of Women.
District Attorney Ed Jagels has been Kern County’s top prosecutor since 1983. He is a graduate of Stanford University, where he received his B.A. in history, and the University of California, Hastings College of Law where he received his J.D. During Jagels’ tenure as District Attorney, Kern County has had the highest per capita prison commitment rate of any major California County. Jagels is a former president and director of the California District Attorney’s Association. In 1994 he was appointed to the Governor’s Law Enforcement Steering Committee, and in 1995 was appointed the chairman of the Attorney General’s Policy Council on Violence Prevention. Mr. Jagels is frequently asked to participate in newspaper, radio and television discussions on such subjects as "Three Strikes and Your Out," victim’s rights, court reform, and legislation. A strong proponent of public safety, he was the Kern County co-chairman of Proposition 8, the "Victims Bill of Rights," in 1982. In 1986, he was the steering committee chairman for Crime Victims for Court Reform, the principal organization campaigning for the defeat of California Supreme Court Justices Bird, Grodin, and Reynoso. In 1990, he was co-author of the "Crime Victims Justice Reform Act" (Prop. 115), a sweeping criminal procedure reform, and chairman of its campaign organization, the Crime Victims California Justice Committee.
Christine Ward has been an advocate for victims of violent crime for well over a decade. She has worked for domestic violence and sexual assault centers across the country doing everything from staffing hotlines, to victim accompaniment, managing emergency shelters, working with law enforcement, program supervision, and volunteer coordination, etc. Christine is a nationally recognized speaker and presents on a variety of issues surrounding victims and victim advocacy. She has recently (2006) concluded a two-year nationwide speaking tour on the issue of Drug Facilitated Sexual Assault. Information on this subject can be found on the iCAN Foundation website www.ican-foundation.org. Christine is a survivor of kidnapping, childhood sexual abuse, rape, domestic violence and stalking. She has been active with the Alliance since its inception in 1992.
Realizing there was no peer support for them, the Wredes organized and established, in 1989, a chapter of a national support organization for police survivors. Marianne has also served on the board of the California Peace Officers Memorial Foundation since 1994, assisting with services for the survivors, as well as educating and communicating the needs of families to the law enforcement community. Her frustration with the criminal justice system led Marianne to become involved in crime victim advocacy, including becoming involved in efforts to unseat Rose Bird and two other California Supreme Court justices. She has also attended trials in support of other crime victims and writes many letters to the parole board, on behalf of other victims, requesting denial of parole for criminals. In 1996, Ken and Marianne Wrede were recipients of the Doris G. Tate Memorial Award from Governor Pete Wilson. Marianne was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Alliance in 1997.
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Marianne
and her husband, Ken Wrede, became survivors of homicide when their only son,
West Covina Police Officer Kenneth Scott Wrede, was shot and killed in the
performance of his duties. The murderer, under the influence of PCP, was
convicted of first degree murder with special circumstances and sentenced to the
death penalty in 1984. The convicted murderer has received 3 stays of execution.