U.S. Attorney
Karen P. Hewitt
Karen P. Hewitt was appointed as the interim United States Attorney for the Southern District of California on February 16, 2007. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Sec. 546(d), the United States District Court appointed Ms. Hewitt as United States Attorney on October 10, 2007. The Southern District of California encompasses San Diego and Imperial Counties, and has approximately 3.1 million residents. The U.S. Attorney's Office enforces all violations of federal law occurring in the Southern District of California. The U.S. Attorney's Office also defends the United States in all civil lawsuits and collects debts owed to the United States.
Ms. Hewitt joined the United States Department of Justice in 1992. She was selected by former United States Attorney Carol C. Lam in 2006 to serve as the third-in-command of the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego. Ms. Hewitt currently leads a staff of approximately 275 employees. During Ms. Hewitt's tenure, the U.S. Attorney's Office has expanded criminal prosecutions in many areas such as criminal immigration, narcotics enforcement, gun crimes and child pornography, making San Diego the third-busiest U.S. Attorney's Office for felony prosecutions of the 94 U.S. Attorney's Offices throughout the nation. In Fiscal Year 2008, the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego successfully prosecuted more than 4,000 felony cases.
From 1992 to 2000, Ms. Hewitt was assigned at Justice Department Headquarters in Washington, D.C., to the Civil Division, Constitutional and Specialized Torts Section, where she litigated hundreds of civil cases on behalf of the United States. In 2000, Ms. Hewitt returned home to San Diego to become an Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office here.
Ms. Hewitt received her undergraduate degree in 1986 from of the University of California, Berkeley, and her law degree in 1989 from the University of San Diego, School of Law. Ms. Hewitt was raised in San Diego County and is a graduate of Valhalla High School. Before joining the Justice Department, she was an attorney with the former San Diego law firm of McInnis, Fitzgerald, Rees, Sharkey and McIntyre from 1989 to 1992. Ms. Hewitt is married and has two sons.
