McKenna names Weinmann as new Chief Criminal Prosecutor

OLYMPIA – Attorney General Rob McKenna has promoted Assistant Attorney General Lana Weinmann to Criminal Litigation Unit Section Chief and Chief Criminal Prosecutor of the Attorney General’s Office.

As the Attorney General’s Chief Criminal Prosecutor, Weinmann and her staff are responsible for assisting the state’s 39 county prosecutors in criminal matters, including cases involving conflict-of-interest, capital punishment, DNA and complex forensics, ecology cases and tax fraud matters.

"Lana’s 16 years of criminal prosecution experience at all levels, including homicide cases, along with her management skills and developed expertise in high-tech crimes make her an excellent fit for this position," McKenna said.

Weinmann will also supervise the attorneys and staff assigned to the Sexually Violent Predator (SVP) unit and the Homicide Investigative Tracking System (HITS) unit of the Attorney General’s office. The SVP unit is responsible for the statewide civil commitment of sexually violent predators – keeping the most violent sex offenders in secure commitment and away from the public. The HITS unit is responsible for tracking crimes of violence and assisting federal, state, and local law enforcement officials.

Since joining the office in 1999, Weinmann has been responsible for prosecuting high-profile crimes, providing training to law enforcement and prosecutors on high-tech and computer related crimes, and giving community presentations on Internet safety to middle school students across the state. Most recently, she has served as Team Leader of the Criminal Litigation Unit of the office.

Prior to joining the Attorney General’s Office in 1999, Weinmann was a Senior Deputy Prosecutor with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, where she prosecuted violent crimes and complex criminal cases.

Weinmann is a 1988 graduate of Washington State University (dual degrees in Business Administration and Human Resource Management) and 1991 graduate of the Seattle University School of Law.

– 30 –

For more information contact: Maureen Scharber, Public Information Officer, at (360) 753-6224 or Lana Weinmann, Chief Criminal Prosecutor at (206) 389-2022