Kari Hathorn serves as District Attorney for Crook County, Oregon. Ms. Hathorn is an experienced litigator who has tried over 100 jury trials. She started her legal career as a law clerk in a City Prosecutor’s Office. This experience sparked her passion to serve her community, pursue justice, and help victims of crime. After graduating law school in 2004, she continued serving the public a prosecuting attorney in both Washington State and Oregon State. Although she has prosecuted a wide variety of types of cases, from misdemeanors to major felony cases, she specializes in prosecuting DUII, Vehicular Homicide, and Vehicular Assault cases.
Ms. Hathorn’s awards include being named the DUII Prosecutor of the Year in 2016 and Outstanding Prosecutor of the Year in 2018 for her work on a challenging impaired driving fatality. She was nominated for the former award by a forensic scientist at the Oregon State Crime Lab, who noted, “because of her mastery in the field of toxicology, and ethanol metabolism specifically, she knows what questions to ask, and more importantly, how to ask them.”
In 2019, Ms. Hathorn transitioned into private practice where she represented clients in a variety of civil matters, including personal injury and wrongful death cases resulting from impaired driving motor vehicle crashes. Ms. Hathorn also served as a pro tem judge. In February 2022, Ms. Hathorn was honored to return to public service as Crook County District Attorney.
