Gilliam County is looking for a new DA. With the election of sitting DA Kara Davis to the Wasco County District Attorney's Office in November, Governor Kotek will appoint a new DA for Gilliam County in January. Davis is set to resign on December 31st.
Two applicants have thrown their names into the hat. Ryan Rodighiero, Deputy District Attorney for Union County, has applied for the job. As has Dean Morgan, who hails from Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Oregon law requires that at the time of appointment, the appointee must be admitted to practice in Oregon by the state's Supreme Court.
Rodighiero is a 2011 graduate of Willamette University's College of Law and has been licensed to practice in Oregon since 2012. Rodighiero has prosecuted several high-profile cases in 2024. Rodighiero oversaw the prosecution of a transient who stole a police officer's baton and fought with police in La Grande in January. More recently, he oversaw the prosecution of a clerk who embezzled money from a butcher shop in Elgin. Last month, the culprit was sentenced to 84 months in prison for her crimes.
Dean Morgan is a practicing attorney in Pennsylvania. Currently, Morgan is self-employed and practices out of the Morgan Law Firm, which he founded in 2010. He also provides general counsel for the Kazi Group of Companies. Morgan attended Penn State's Dickinson School of Law and was admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania in 2006.
According to Morgan's LinkedIn page, he is admitted to practice in Nevada, Maryland, Texas, New York, California, and the US Virgin Islands – but there is no mention of practicing in Oregon.
The appointment to Gilliam County District Attorney's Office will be the second in two years. Kara Davis came to Gilliam County in 2023, and was appointed by Governor Kotek after longtime DA Marion Weatherford was elected as Circuit Court Judge for Oregon's 7th Judicial District.
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