LoStracco Interview - Ryan Gest

Nicole LoStracco has seen the world, and now she’s running for office of district attorney of Nacogdoches.
LoStracco, 37, was born in San Francisco and lived in Belgium and Hawaii, and could be called a woman of the world. She was educated at Mills College in San Francisco, and received her law degree from Texas Tech University in Lubbock. Soon after college she moved to Nacogdoches. “I never saw myself as a city girl,” said LoStracco. Her first practice was in Lufkin, but it didn’t last forever. She says that she didn’t like the commute even though it was easy compared to the same commute in a larger city that she had lived in before.

“I found out that there was a spot open at the district attorney’s office,” said LoStracco. She served as the assistant district attorney in Nacogdoches for eight years. “Any case that had a female victim was mine,” said LoStracco. She left the district attorney’s office in October of 2004 and moved to criminal defense.

“There are some cases that you’re just not willing to handle,” said LoStracco when talking about criminal defense.
LoStracco is running as a Republican for the district attorney of Nacogdoches. Her opponent is the current district attorney Stephanie Stephens. “The numbers are down at the DA’s office,” said LoStracco, “When I left the office was at a win rate” She said that it’s a staffing problem but the current district attorney is still doing a good job. “The DA works for the taxpayers,” she said, and many people have asked her to run for the office. If elected she will take office in January of 2009.

On Sept. 24, LoStracco was one of the speakers at SFA’s Risk Management Training. Ten days after her speech, Nikolas Gallegos, a student a SFA died of alcohol poisoning. “Personally, I didn’t know much about the situation,” said LoStracco. “It was a program where there was a whole bunch of topics I had to talk about,” said LoStracco. Among the topics were “sex, drugs and alcohol. “You’ve got to have someone with a vibrant personality,” said LoStracco. She said that the average kid at a party could die one night and the whole community would crack down.

She said that the law enforcement of the past was not as serious, but no one can look the other way anymore.
Hazing is another topic she talked to students about. “SFA is taking hazing seriously,” said LoStracco. She talked about how the punishments for hazing are more harsh than in the past. She also would like to educate students of how to stay out of more trouble once they get into trouble.

“Date rape was another program we did about a month ago,” said LoStracco. She said that a lot of the cases she gets involve SFA students. There’s not a lot that she can do other than try to make the punishment lighter. LoStracco recommends that when students get into legal trouble of any kind to ask their parents for help, since they will find out eventually anyway.

LoStracco is a defense attorney in Nacogdoches. “I’m one of the younger lawyers in town,” she said. “I don’t see myself as a politician. So how did she end where she is today? She didn’t know what she wanted to do for a living. “Honestly, I needed a job,” said LoStracco, “I walked in and just loved it.”

She is married to James R. LoStracco and has two children, Juliett 4, and Trey, 2.