2024 Curtin-Maleng Minister of Justice Award
Dwain W. Woodley is the recipient of the 2024 Curtin-Maleng Minister of Justice Award.
Dwain W. Woodley joined the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office as a Deputy District Attorney in 2001. He began his management track in 2008, overseeing several divisions, beginning with the position of Assistant Chief of Central Pretrial and Disposition Division, Assistant Chief of Superior Court Division, Chief of Superior Court Division, Chief of the Juvenile Branch, and Chief of the South Bay Branch, and in 2018, was promoted to Chief Deputy District Attorney. In 2021, District Attorney Summer Stephan selected Woodley as Assistant District Attorney.
Assistant DA Woodley helped develop and lead the District Attorney’s office Community Partnership Prosecutors program which has been successful in connecting the public with much-needed services around domestic violence, child abuse and hate crimes. He is also part of San Diego Judicial Memorial Committee, a member of Governor Newson’s Local Judicial Selection Committee and part of the Bench-Bar Committee.
About the Curtin-Maleng Minister of Justice Award
This award is bestowed on a prosecutor who embodies the principles enunciated in the ABA Standards for Criminal Justice, Prosecution Function, particularly that “the Duty of the prosecutor is to seek justice, not merely to convict.”
Norm Maleng served as the King County (Seattle, WA) Prosecutor from 1978 until his death in 2007. He was a very effective and, in many ways, a tough prosecutor, being particularly protective of those he viewed as vulnerable, creating special prosecutorial units to deal with child abuse, sexual assault and domestic violence. He chaired the Criminal Justice Section in 2003-04 and served on its Criminal Justice Standards Committee in the early 1990’s. In 2006, Norm Maleng was given the Section’s Minister of Justice Award recognizing his embodiment of the principles enunciated in the ABA Standards for Criminal Justice, Prosecution Function, particularly: “The duty of the prosecutor is to seek justice, not merely to convict.”
This award was renamed the Curtin-Maleng Minister of Justice Award in 2021 to honor the late Kevin Curtin, who was Senior Appellate Counsel/Grand Jury Director for the Middlesex District Attorney. Curtin was vice-chair of the ABA Criminal Justice Section Council and co-chaired the Section's Committee on Appellate and Habeas Practice.