A San Francisco deputy district attorney now assigned to the city’s child-abuse and sexual-assault unit once faced his own child-abuse case, stemming from a 2018 Sonoma County arrest that briefly put his children in protective custody. Court and professional records show the matter was resolved through a diversion plea and later sealed, but new reporting this week has pulled those files back into public view. The prosecutor, Richard Hullinger, was hired by the San Francisco District Attorney’s office in October 2021 and now prosecutes child-abuse cases in the unit.
Records: Arrest, Charges and Outcome
According to The San Francisco Standard, Hullinger was pulled over on Highway 101 in Sonoma County in May 2018 and initially faced two felony counts of child abuse along with DUI allegations. State Bar filings and court summaries cited in that report state that he refused field-sobriety tests and later tested at more than three times the legal blood-alcohol limit. Child Protective Services temporarily took custody of his then 7- and 2-year-old children, and the child-cruelty charge was ultimately reduced to a misdemeanor and dismissed after he completed a diversion program. Sonoma County Superior Court records show the criminal file was later sealed.
State Bar Disciplinary File
According to The State Bar of California, a conviction record tied to the 2018 case was transmitted to the State Bar Court in June 2022. The bar entered a public reproval with duties on April 12, 2023, in case number 22-C-30573. The online profile for Hullinger’s law license lists that discipline and notes a probationary period attached to the reproval. For now, that entry is the primary public record of the professional consequences that flowed from the 2018 arrest.
DA’s Office Stands By Him
The San Francisco District Attorney’s office has publicly backed Hullinger, describing him as “an exemplary prosecutor” who accepted responsibility and complied with legal and professional requirements, as reported by The San Francisco Standard. The office said Hullinger first worked in the domestic-violence unit before moving into the child-abuse and sexual-assault unit, and that he has prosecuted dozens of child-abuse cases in recent years. The message from the DA’s office is that his past conduct and current role can coexist, even as that past is now being reexamined in public.
Legal Implications
Because the child-cruelty charge was dismissed and the criminal file was sealed, outside review of the underlying case is limited while the State Bar reproval remains on public record, according to The State Bar of California. A recent audit of the state bar’s discipline system, summarized by Courthouse News Service, notes that formal public discipline of attorneys is relatively uncommon, which helps explain why the outcome in Hullinger’s case was a reproval and probation rather than suspension or disbarment. For now, the DA’s office says Hullinger continues to prosecute child-abuse cases while the episode remains a focus of public attention.
