Shawn Tafreshi is a felony trial deputy with the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office. He is currently assigned to the Superior Court Division. Previously, he worked at the Vista Branch, Pretrial, Juvenile and the Major Narcotics Division. He has prosecuted more than 30 jury trials and grand jury proceedings to verdict, and over 20 juvenile trials as well as hundreds of preliminary hearings. He also litigates civil commitment trials of mentally disordered offenders and people considered legally insane. He has tried cases involving attempted murder, assault with great bodily injury, child abuse, pimping and pandering, large scale narcotic distribution, DUI injury crashes, and also a rare case involving the “Unlicensed Corporate Practice of Medicine." He regularly advises law enforcement regarding search warrant law and criminal procedure issues.   

For several years, Tafreshi was designated as a “Judge” DA focusing on the prosecution of drug dealing gang members. His work led to wiretaps used in the prosecution of notorious Mexican drug cartels operating violent extortion cells here in San Diego. Moreover, he coordinated and organized several large-scale projects targeting local and international narcotics trafficking.

Tafreshi was the prosecutor in charge of Operation Sudden Fall, a project that dealt with SDSU campus drug dealers who sold cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine, heroin and addictive prescription pain killers. This project was initiated after a rash of campus cocaine overdoses in which two students lost their lives.

Tafreshi is a cum laude graduate of UC Irvine with B.A. degrees in criminology and psychology. He is fluent in both Farsi and Spanish. He received his J.D. from Loyola Law School. While at Loyola, Tafreshi became a published author and worked as editor-in-chief of the Loyola International and Comparative Law Review. He also served as a judicial extern for the Hon. Kim McLane Wardlaw of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, working exclusively on criminal writs and appeals.

Tafreshi regularly speaks at local schools about gang violence, narcotics and the legal system. He is heavily involved with Big Brothers of San Diego as a mentor and Big Brother. He also serves as a trial coach for the San Diego High School Mock Trial Program and is an active member of the San Diego Bar Association and the California District Attorneys Association. He loves baseball, football, soccer and, most importantly, his beautiful wife Brooke, who is also a prosecutor in the same office.