Inside Ex-Prosecutor’s Suit Alleging Honesty Cost Him Job

By Rachel Rippetoe | December 19, 2021, 8:02 PM EST
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Former Riverside County, California, prosecutor and Iraq war veteran Chris Ross, pictured in his San Antonio law office, is embroiled in a legal battle with his former employer, claiming the DA’s office pushed him out of a job after he uncovered evidence exonerating a jailed defendant in a murder case. (Robin Jerstad/Jerstad Photographics)

Chris Ross remembers vividly the moment he knew he needed to leave Riverside County, California, for good.

Filing Suit

Ross moved to Los Angeles in December 2013, but said he couldn’t get a job at any district attorney’s office in California or even a low-level public defender position. Eventually, he moved to San Antonio, where he was hired by a civil law firm in the Lone Star State.

A Murder Investigation

On March 18, 2010, in Desert Hot Springs, Willie Womack, who at the time was 50, said he returned home to find a man he knew named Bryan “Tennessee” Stevenson dead in his living room.

Chris Ross

As a prosecutor, Ross was the person you wanted in a tough battle, Pacheco said. At the time he was handed the Parker case, Ross’ had 61 convictions, no defeats and one hung jury.

Paul Zellerbach, a former Riverside County district attorney, is the target of a lawsuit brought by Roger Parker, who says the prosecutor’s office kept in jail for four years despite his innocence. Zellerbach was district attorney from 2011 to 2014.

Roger Parker, 32, was declared factually innocent just three months ago. Here, his lawyers read him details of the murder investigation, in which two prosecutors concluded he could not be proved guilty, for the first time.

Pushed Out

While the Parker case was ongoing, Ross was dealing with another burden.