DISTRICT ATTORNEY PICKS NEW TOP AIDE.

Byline: Don Holland Daily News Staff Writer

Pete Kossoris remembers well the young, handsome law student applying for a summer job as a legal clerk in the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.

Greg Totten spoke and dressed well. And although he had yet to set foot in a courtroom as a lawyer, the young man showed unmistakable promise.

In the 17 years since then, Totten has risen through the ranks to become a respected prosecutor and able administrator.

Now the 44-year-old Totten has become second in command on the district attorney's staff. He oversees a staff of 560, including Kossoris, his mentor and longtime friend.

``He has an exceptionally wide variety of experience and has been successful everywhere he's been . . . so that he's unusually well-qualified,'' Kossoris said. ``And I think he has a well-deserved reputation as an honest, straightforward person.''

As chief assistant district attorney, Totten is responsible for carrying out the policies of District Attorney Michael D. Bradbury and generally overseeing operations. He also will act as spokesman for the office and serve as liaison with the courts and other agencies.

``The thing I've noticed most in the first three weeks is the fact that we're going from one issue to the next,'' said Totten, who replaced Kevin McGee, who was elected to the Superior Court bench.

The son of an aerospace engineer, Totten grew up in Riverside, where even as a boy, he dreamed of one day becoming a lawyer. He attended Chaffee Junior College in Alta Loma, where he met his wife-to-be, Irene. The two transferred to San Francisco State University, where he earned a degree in economics before heading off to Pepperdine Law School. In 1982, he got his law degree, passed the bar examination and went to work for Bradbury's office.

``I found the work fascinating and decided that this is what I really wanted to do,'' Totten said. ``I had a fairly religious rearing as a child. We went to church every Sunday. And being able to do something that I believed in was very important to me personally. And being able to have a job where I thought I was helping the community was also a significant attraction to this line of work.''

Initially assigned to misdemeanors, he prosecuted drunk-driving, petty theft and minor drug cases before moving on to prosecute felony cases. Totten initially planned to work as a prosecutor for only a couple years and then go into private practice where he could earn more money. But he enjoyed putting criminals behind bars so much that he decided to stay.

After two years prosecuting molestation, rape and domestic-violence cases, Totten became a special assistant district attorney, handling political misconduct cases and serving as liaison to the grand jury.

In 1992, he and Kossoris won a death penalty conviction for Gregory Smith, a Canoga Park day-care worker who kidnapped, sexually assaulted and strangled 8-year-old Paul Bailey.

``I felt like I was doing the right thing in that case,'' he said. ``It was very satisfying. It was a horrible crime that demanded the ultimate punishment.''

In his new position, Totten will chair the committee that recommends when to seek a death sentence. Bradbury makes the final decision.

``It's a very solemn, very serious duty,'' he said. ``It's not one that I think prosecutors take delight in. We take it very seriously. We feel our responsibility is to the community we serve. . . . I think one of the things that drives the prosecutors in this office is they care. They care about the people who are impacted by crime.''

In 1993, Totten left Bradbury's office to become executive director of the California District Attorneys' Association. He helped write and lobby for tougher laws.

Among his accomplishments was the resurrection of the ``one strike'' sentencing law that allows for life terms for sex offenses committed during a burglary or involving a gun or torture.

``It said, depending on the nature of the offense, you would be able to get a life-term sentence,'' Totten said. ``So it was really a sea change in that area that allowed us to protect the communities against some of the individuals that generally have some of the highest recidivism rates among criminal offenders.''

Under Totten's leadership, the organization successfully lobbied for changes that lowered the age to 14 for certain juvenile murderers to be tried in adult court.

In his new role, Totten hopes to increase pay for the 105 deputy district attorneys and to help maintain Ventura County's low crime rates.

When asked about following in the footsteps of chief assistants from the office who have become judges, Totten, calling himself trial attorney at heart, said he hasn't given it much thought.

``I enjoy being a prosecutor too much,'' he said. ``It may be a possibility some day down the road. But it's not something I have a strong interest in at the current time.''

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PHOTO (Color in Simi Edition only) Greg Totten

Rises through the ranks