Prosecutor’s Reputation Is That of a Real Battler : Courts: The conviction rate in sex offenses and abuse cases is over 90% so far this year. She has submitted her name to Gov. Pete Wilson as a candidate for a Municipal Court judgeship.

Most any day, the third-floor view from the corner office at the County Government Center looks pretty clear to the aggressive Ventura prosecutor.

Twelve years as a top Ventura County deputy district attorney have done little to soften the zeal of Lela Henke-Dobroth, the senior attorney in charge of putting sex offenders and spousal and child abusers behind bars.

Henke-Dobroth, who started off 18 years ago as a legal secretary, said a few short years in the business convinced her that prosecuting was the only kind of law to practice.

“Once I started law school that’s all I wanted to be,” said Henke-Dobroth, whose top-floor corner office offers a sweeping view of the hills overlooking Ventura.

“My mother planted the (law school) seed,” she said. “I thought it was out of reach, but it suddenly became something I could do.”

Henke-Dobroth oversees 10 attorneys who work full-time in the Ventura County district attorney’s office sexual assault and family protection unit.

“All of the cases brought in by law enforcement come to me first,” she said. “There’s a lot of case review, working with investigators and assigning cases.”

The conviction rate for the felony caseload of the family protection unit, which combined the domestic violence and sexual assault divisions earlier this year, has climbed slowly but steadily in recent years.

The unit filed 173 felony cases in 1991, winning convictions 87% of the time, according to department statistics. Last year, the unit won felony convictions in 89% of its 192 cases, and the first six months of 1993 have seen a 92% conviction rate among its 79 felony filings.

Each of Henke-Dobroth’s cases are vertically assigned, meaning one attorney will meet with victims and families throughout the length of a prosecution, which often stretches months.

“The cases are so sensitive that the attorney has to develop a rapport with the victims and their families,” she said.

Like anyone in a top management position, Henke-Dobroth has her critics.

Her tough-minded tactics most likely would not win a popularity contest among defense attorneys. More than one said she uses whatever means she can to win a case she thinks needs winning.

“She has a tendency to respond in a guttural sense, without really thinking about the facts of a case,” said one local defense attorney. “She gets emotionally involved in the cases to the detriment of the (district attorney’s) office and the institution.”

But the same Henke-Dobroth qualities defense attorneys attack bitterly are praised by those who chase spousal abusers and sex offenders every day.

“Tenacious is what first comes to mind,” said Detective Michael Powers of the Sheriff’s Department’s major crimes unit. “She’s a victim’s district attorney.

“She may have some reservations about a particular case, but she’s definitely bent on giving the victims their day in court if she believes she can win the case,” he said.

Powers is not the only Henke-Dobroth fan in the law enforcement community. Major crimes investigators from Ventura to Thousand Oaks describe the senior prosecutor as a crafty veteran who is not afraid to step on people’s toes.

“I’ve seen her take cases and prosecute that others may give up on too soon,” said Sgt. John Fitzgerald, who investigates sex crimes for the sheriff’s west county station. “That tells me she’s a fighter.”

A registered Republican, the 46-year-old Henke-Dobroth is married to Municipal Judge John E. Dobroth. She has submitted her name to Gov. Pete Wilson as a candidate for the Municipal Court judgeship that became vacant when Judge Ken W. Riley won election last year to the Superior Court bench.

Deputy Dist. Atty. James D. Ellison also has submitted an application to the governor’s office to be considered for the vacancy.

Some defense attorneys, however, said they could never recommend to the governor that Henke-Dobroth be appointed.

“Certainly Ms. Dobroth, while an experienced prosecutor, does not have the qualifications necessary to be a good judge,” said Deputy Public Defender Bryant A. Villagran.

Henke-Dobroth’s “lack of objectivity and lack of overview of both sides of the court process” would prevent her from giving some defendants a fair hearing, Villagran said.

For example, Villagran cited a recent spousal abuse case where the victim asked that her husband not be prosecuted because the woman was not seriously hurt. They had enrolled in counseling and she did not want to break up the family.

Henke-Dobroth “insisted on the prosecution because she thought the man should be going to prison,” Villagran said. “The district attorney’s office wanted to be the sentencer instead of the prosecutor.”

The family protection unit chief stuck by her decision, saying that victims frequently retract their complaints, only to be beaten again.

“Our opinions differ as to what is in the best interests of the family,” Henke-Dobroth said. “I have to represent a broader scope than just a woman who has been physically abused, and what her wishes might be at that moment.”

Regardless of whatever criticism she receives from legal adversaries, Henke-Dobroth’s drive and success has drawn nothing but praise from her boss.

“She’s fair and honest, but tough as nails,” Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury said.

“Over the years she has engendered both jealousy and some unhappiness on the part of the defense bar, but the public is very fortunate to have her as a prosecutor,” he said. “She’s a crook’s worst nightmare.”

Defense attorneys naturally are skeptical of prosecutors who become judges, Bradbury said.

“They think (prosecutors) have a bias, or a lack of experience in the civil cases,” he said. “But other former prosecutors who are on the bench now have shown those fears to be unfounded.”

The ugliest details of some of the cases she prosecutes still haunt Henke-Dobroth.

For instance, there’s the 1984 case of a Salvadoran man who persuaded his girlfriend’s young daughters that it was the devil molesting and impregnating them. Or the 2-year-old boy beaten to death by a foster mother charged with protecting him.

Six years ago, Henke-Dobroth prosecuted Martha Jean Berry, who was found guilty of prostituting her 12-year-old sister to a 51-year-old man.

Jose German Martin, 22, was convicted last year of raping three prostitutes and sentenced to 45 years in prison. “There were a lot of other victims who chose not to come forward,” Henke-Dobroth said of that case.

“You can’t help but get caught up in it,” she said. “You try to maintain a sense of humor and not dwell on what’s occurring, but it’s next to impossible to shut your door at 5:30 and not think about these cases.

“I think about them 24 hours a day.”