Dan Satterberg

Born in Seattle, Satterberg graduated from Highline High School and the University of Washington.[2][3] He later earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Washington School of Law,

following which he began work in the King County Prosecutor's office. There he spent four years as a trial attorney in the Criminal Division before serving as chief of staff to then-Prosecutor Norm Maleng from 1990 to 2007.[4]

In May 2007, King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng unexpectedly died of a heart attack. Because Maleng had been elected as a moderate Republican, his successor was nominated by the King County Republican Central Committee.[5] Satterberg was appointed by the King County Council to fill the position until a special election was held in November 2007. That November, Satterberg was elected to fill the remaining three years of Maleng's term. He subsequently won election as a Republican to a full four-year term in 2010.[6] In 2016, Satterberg successfully pushed for a voter approved amendment to King County Charter to make the office of Prosecutor nominally non-partisan.[7] Despite holding a non-partisan office, Satterberg made public in 2018 that his political views align with the Democratic Party.[8]

Since 2008, Satterberg has served on the State of Washington Sentencing Guidelines Commission under appointment by Governor Christine Gregoire.[9] He was the co-chairman, along with former Washington Attorney-General Rob McKenna, of the Washington Law Enforcement Group Against Identity Theft (LEGIT), a quasi-governmental organization that seeks to raise awareness about consumer data privacy issues in Washington.[10]

Satterberg decided not to bring charges against Officer Ian Birk [11] in the shooting of John T. Williams, a decision criticized by attorneys for the Williams family.[12]