Marc's involvement in arson prosecution stemmed from a serial arson case he was assigned to prosecute in 1992. The defendant was a seasonal firefighter with CDF (now CalFire). Because of the defendant's status the case was investigated by investigators from outside of Butte County. This introduced him to Henri Brachais, a CDF investigator from Riverside, who spent time teaching Marc about arson investigations, sparking an interest in the area.
In 1995 Henri Brachais was transferred to Butte County and put in charge of the Fire Prevention Bureau. At this time Mr. Brachais requested Marc be designated as the arson DDA for Butte County. In order to more fully understand arson investigations, Marc received extensive training in fire behavior, fire investigation, arson and explosives from CDF. He was treated like a new fire investigator and sent through the State Fire Marshall Fire Investigator Certification Program. He was even issued full firefighter gear and a pager as part of his new assignment. For the first 7 years of his designation as the DDA Arson Prosecutor, Marc responded to every suspicious fire and every fire death within Butte County, giving Marc the unique and invaluable opportunity to build arson cases from the crime scene to the courtroom.
Marc's search warrant experience hit closer to home. His father was an FBI Agent for 31 years; the majority of the time within the area of investigating organized crime. Marc grew up seeing his father write search warrant affidavits and wiretap applications, many of them at home. His father taught him how to write search warrants and wiretaps when he was still in high school. In law school, Marc took that experience with him as a law clerk for the Douglas County Attorney Criminal Division, writing numerous search, arrest and fugitive witness warrants.
While serving as a Contra Costa Deputy District Attorney (in the 2 years prior to coming to work for Butte County), Marc was assigned to the Richmond office. There he fostered relationships with the Richmond PD Narcotics Units and BNE Task Force and was trained like he was one of their own, becoming involved in everything except for undercover drug sales. He was also assigned to work with Narcotic's Prosecutor, Jose Marin, at the same time. Jose was a former DEA agent who was able to teach Marc how to take the investigated narcotics case and prosecute it effectively.
These experiences naturally lead him to become proficient in the area of search warrants and when Marc made his way to Butte County he very quickly became the Deputy District Attorney relied on to review and advise on search warrant issues both during business hours as well as after hours.
Marc has tirelessly served the community of Butte County as a prosecutor for over 20 years. His experience enables him to effectively supervise the felony team he is currently assigned to while still managing his own felony assignment in gangs. Marc notes that, "The Butte County District Attorney's Office is made up of dedicated and professional prosecutors. Our DDA's are here because they want to be prosecutors. That makes a big difference. Our people are invested in the community and the office. As a result everybody is willing to put in the time and effort to do the job correctly."
Marc is a stellar example of this acute observation. The honor of being awarded attorney of the year is well placed with Marc Noel.
No comments:
Post a Comment