The Cochise County Attorney’s Office is proud to nominate Anahi Barron for Administrative Professional of the Year. Anahi started with the Cochise County Attorney’s Office as a misdemeanor secretary and quickly rose to become a paralegal managing a demanding felony caseload. She consistently goes above and beyond, staying ahead of deadlines, anticipating needs, and providing exceptional support during complex jury trials, including cases involving drug sales, attempted murder, and CSAM—all resulting in convictions. Anahi is not only skilled and dependable, she brings a positive, team-oriented attitude that uplifts everyone around her. Her professionalism, initiative, and genuine kindness make her a standout in our Office and in the broader legal community, where she also serves as an Affiliate Member Liaison and Communications Coordinator for the Cochise County Bar Association. Anahi exemplifies what it means to be a dedicated and outstanding administrative professional, and Cochise County Attorney’s Office is honored to recognize her with this nomination.

In the face of staff shortages and steadily increasing caseloads and tasking, Imara Montoya has been a steadfast presence in the Mesa City Prosecutor’s Office. Imara has been asked to stand in the gap time and again, covering hundreds of cases across every courtroom in the building. Her willingness to cover additional work and support her teammates is equaled only by her professionalism and skill in completing that work. In our line of work, it is not enough to simply complete the tasks; they must be completed accurately and on time. Even at times when she has literally been the only member of the support team in the office, she could be relied upon to make sure every motion was prepared and filed, every witness called, every piece of evidence accounted for, and every trial was ready to proceed. No matter how much is asked of her, Imara’s selfless, positive attitude never wavers.

Christina Gerlach is a Legal Processing Support employee with the Pima County Attorney's Office. Christina shows a strong inclination to learn and is willing to assist in any area with a need. She has taken the initiative to observe her coworkers, asking questions and trying to learn new things. She is able to confidently cover positions as needed in Felony Records and Disclosure, in addition to being sure that her work in the Priors Unit does not suffer. In addition to Christina's strong work ethic, she has a professional and pleasant demeanor and does not hesitate to stop what she is doing to help a coworker in need of assistance. She is very dependable, and she strives each day to do the highest quality work on each case that she is involved with. For these reasons, the Pima County Attorney’s Office is proud to nominate Christina for this award.

Colleen Calhoun’s passion for her work falls somewhere between her love for her family and her love for NASCAR. With her husband of 40 years, Brian, Ms. Calhoun has raised two lovely daughters, Amanda, and Amelia and now enjoys time with her five grandbabies. On the weekends, you will find Ms. Calhoun baking goodies for her husband and the office, or watching NASCAR. Ms. Calhoun’s career has taken a few twists, turns and pitstops between Phoenix and Flagstaff. Ms. Calhoun started off with a bang; in less than a year, she worked her way up the ladder to be the Judicial Assistant for Judge Halas. Ms. Calhoun spends countless hours pouring her heart into her work to ensure her prosecutors have the tools to do justice and make a difference. Unlike NASCAR drivers, Ms. Calhoun does not boast or brag about what she accomplishes, nor does she do the work for the recognition. Much like the pit-crew, Ms. Calhoun’s work is invaluable to our office.

Dallas Bullington has been a tremendous asset to our office since joining us in 2019 as a Paralegal II. Dallas works on our most complex cases in the felony trial unit, including document intensive fraud cases and homicides. This year our relatively small office handled an unusual number of Special Actions. Dallas prepared all the pleadings for the Court of Appeals, including exhibits, under tight time constraints. But most significantly this past year, Dallas took the initiative to be our point person on the transition to PBK, and she has been invaluable in this role. She creates any new forms we need, conducts ongoing training for the staff and attorneys, and she interfaces with the folks at PBK to assist us on all aspects of the case management system. We would be lost without her! Dallas is a very intelligent and dedicated person, and a true pleasure to work with.

Stacey Cañez first arrived at the Arizona Attorney General’s Office in 2005 as a student from Carl Hayden High School. During her tenure as a student, Stacey distinguished herself as a hard-working individual who was eager to learn. Fifteen years later, Stacey has advanced to a lead Legal Secretary in the Criminal Division. In that role, she has not only been responsible for three prosecutors and managing their caseload, but she also serves as the backup for the State Grand Jury secretary. Stacey is often relied upon to assist the Fraud Section Office Administrator with various section-wide tasks and training. Additionally, she has become well versed with the Criminal Division’s operations, budget and case management software which are helpful for all Criminal Division staff and attorneys. Stacey has the experience necessary to handle all these tasks and does so with a cheerful personality and an innovative spirit.

Jennifer Garcia has been a legal secretary with the Pima County Attorney’s Office since February 13, 2012. She is assigned to the Special Victims Unit, where she assists in the prosecution of sexual offenses committed against adults and children, as well as child physical abuse cases. Jennifer is an exceptionally skilled secretary and manages to handle very heavy caseloads involving difficult and emotional subject matter. She is efficient, kind, and dedicated to her work. She is the first to volunteer to help train and mentor other secretaries and ensures that cases are processed timely and correctly. Jennifer has been part of an active trial team handling a number of difficult cases over the past year. She maintains contact with numerous victims and witnesses on her cases, impressively taking the time to ensure that each has an exemplary experience with our office, despite some incredibly tragic circumstances.

Angie Vera is one of the finest Administrative Professionals in the Pima County Attorney’s Office. It is an honor to nominate her for APAAC’s 2018 Administrative Professional of the Year Award for her outstanding work in the State v. David Watson case and trials. Success in the courtroom is the culmination of hundreds of hours of work, none of which is possible without excellent support staff. Angie is always aware of what her prosecutors need and ensures they have everything to succeed in court. Angie has been with the Pima County Attorney’s Office since 1996. She is a highly valued employee. Angie always knows exactly what to do. She makes her team solid and goes above and beyond what is expected from a secretary. Her secretarial skills, her organization skills, her ability to coordinate witnesses and interviews are unparalleled. Her work is above reproach and is consistently of the highest quality.

Debbie Barnes has been with the Graham County Attorney’s Office for more than 20 years. Debbie started as a secretary and worked her way up to being our office manager. As the office manager, she keeps everything running as smooth as possible, even in the face of having our office flooded due to a horrific storm. She has a great attitude and is always willing to go above and beyond what is required of her, including working after hours. She possesses more knowledge about how to draft a plea agreement and what motions need to be filed than most attorneys. She has the capability of typing up any legal document on a moment’s notice and is exceptionally fast. Not only does Debbie manage our office, she runs our adoption program. We would be completely lost without Debbie. She is the glue that holds our office together.

Misty Price is a consummate professional and the "backbone" of the Gila County Attorney's Office. Misty has been employed with GCAO since 2002, and is currently the Executive Administrative Assistant to the County Attorney. While Misty does an excellent job managing the day-to-day operations of the office, she excels in the courtroom where she takes copious notes during criminal trials. In fact, Misty's notes are so accurate and detailed that prosecutors frequently ask to review them before cross examining defense witnesses. A common practice among DCAs in our office is to ask Misty for a copy of her notes prior to putting the finishing touches on their closing arguments. In 2015, Misty helped get justice in two of the most significant homicide cases in the history of Gila County. In both cases Misty played a significant role in the prosecution and her adept note-taking helped the assigned DCA fashion effective and persuasive closing arguments. Misty is an asset not only to our office and our community, but to the entire criminal justice system.

Throughout her 16 year career, Angela has proven to be a dedicated, professional, and talented member of MCAO’s support staff. During the past year, Angela has had to shepherd several of MCAO’s groups through a complex caseload management software transition and she has taken on new duties within her division to help implement our geographical organization. She supports the functions of the entire division by helping with any and all secretarial tasks particularly when bureaus have to deal with vacancies or unexpected absences. Her dedication to the work and her willingness to take on any tasks that are asked of her has a significant contribution to the successful prosecution and administration of thousands of cases throughout her division and this Office. Her outstanding efforts this year on behalf of Maricopa County warrant recognition as APAAC’s Support Person of the Year.