Riverside County district attorney loses race to challenger

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Riverside County Dist. Atty. Rod Pacheco was booted out of office by Judge Paul Zellerbach in the primary election.

Zellerbach, lesser known and outspent by the incumbent, focused his campaign on criticizing Pacheco for mismanaging the prosecutor’s office and mishandling criminal cases.

In a telephone interview Wednesday morning with the Press-Enterprise, Zellerbach said he was ‘”ecstatic” with his surprise victory over Pacheco, who served a single term.

With most of the vote counted, Zellerbach nabbed 52.8% to Pacheco’s 47.2%.

‘I believed that if the voters were provided accurate information, the choice would be clear to them, and thankfully, we were successful,’ Zellerback told the Press-Enterprise.

-- Phil Willon