Their Tragedy As Her Own:
Alameda Death Penalty Prosecutor
Seeks Justice for Victim Families

OAKLAND --If Angela Backers weren’t courageous, she wouldn’t last a week on the job. Each year the 44 year-old Alameda County death penalty prosecutor must try some of the most emotionally wrenching murder cases the region has to offer.

Just a few weeks ago, Backers sat in an Alameda County Superior courtroom in tears listening to the families of Vanessa Lei Samson, the 22 year-old Pleasanton woman who was sodomized and killed by James Daveggio and Michele Mauchaud. The duo had gone on a horrific rampage involving 17 sex victims spanning three states. Both criminals had molested their own children. In the end, the jury decided death for both Daveggio and Mauchaud, who becomes one of only 14 women now on death row in California.

Like the three Alameda County death penalty cases she had tried before, Backers was consumed by the case. Prosecuting largely on her own (with help from an investigator and outside advice from other district attorneys) Backers spent a year, typically 80 hours a week, working on the case. Much of her "passion and preparation" had come from meeting and talking with the Samson family.

"You become very close to the family," said Backers. "You treat their tragedy as your own."

Backers said she had moments of "physical, intellectual and emotional" exhaustion, but she believes that "if justice is done, then it‘s all worth it."

A Fremont native, Backers spent 21 years in Catholic schools, attending St. Mary’s college, before law school at the University of San Francisco. After graduation from law school, she went to work for the Alameda County District Attorney’s office, where she tried non-death penalty homicide cases during the 1980s.

"From the age of 14, I knew I wanted to help victims of sex crimes," said Backers, a tall attorney who wears her blond hair long, and speaks in a quiet, confident voice.

Backers said her choice had nothing to do with personal experience--it was simply what she wanted to do. Now she is one of only four attorneys on the Alameda County death penalty team.

"She’s is compassionate to the victims’ families and she’s very tough," said Tom Orloff, Alameda County district attorney. "These are very difficult, very trying cases and you have to be able to deal with them in a rationale way."

Backers says she believes in the death penalty because she feels "it is the appropriate punishment" for crimes committed by people like Daveggio and Mauchaud.

Michael Berger, who represented Daveggio, says Backers is "competent, very thorough, and works hard." Berger doesn’t believe in the death penalty and feels "you have to look at the defendant as a person."

"You have to look at the person’s whole life," he said. "You have to look at childhood, family, illnesses , more than just the moment of time that the trial is about."

Backers counters Berger’s argument by saying that jurors gets to hear all about the person’s background during the trial and decide for themselves whether punishment by death is appropriate.

Berger said that the two maintained a "professional relationship" throughout the trial.

"It doesn’t mean she or I gave anything away," Berger added. "I think she did her job and we did ours very well."

When she’s not working, Backers enjoys travel, photography and spending time with her husband and two elementary-school aged children. Family life is a pleasant relief from the disturbing subject matter she deals with on a daily basis, she admits.

"You just want to go home and hug your kids," she says while prosecuting particularly grueling and horrific cases.

An avid photographer, she chooses to celebrate life rather than death outside of the courtroom.

"Four of my friends have asked me to photograph their births," Backers says in her soft, confident voice.

On such occasions Backers is able to rejoice over new life, in contrast to the deadly seriousness of her every day toil.