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About Melanie
Personal
Melanie was born in South Bend, Indiana, where she lived until she moved to Las Vegas when she was 12 years old. She grew up there, eventually attending UNLV, where she obtained her undergraduate degree in English, followed by Boyd School of Law, where she obtained her Juris Doctorate.
Melanie began working in the legal field at 15 years old, when she was hired by an attorney for a "summer job" alphabetizing some closed files. The task was supposed to take all summer to complete, but she finished in just 3 weeks, and stayed on, learning other tasks in the office. Summer came and went, and Melanie stayed with the office for the next 12 years, eventually holding every position available from file clerk to associate attorney. She learned the legal business from the ground up and had the advantage of working for a general practitioner who handled a wide variety of cases and clients.
After Melanie graduated from law school and passed the bar, she remained in private practice, intending to develop a business, commercial and real estate law practice. However, in 2006, Melanie made the decision to move to Northern Nevada to raise her family in a smaller community. She has made a home for herself and her children in Northern Nevada for the past 20 years. Currently, when she is not working or attending her children's sports or academic events, you can find her out and about enjoying community events, taking advantage of the wonderful open spaces Northern Nevada has to offer for hiking, camping and other outdoor activities, or at home enjoying time cooking and baking with her children or playing with her three dogs
Professional
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Melanie began her career in public service in 2006, working for the Nevada Attorney General in the Litigation Division, representing the Nevada Department of Corrections in various lawsuits and appeals in both the State and Federal court systems. In that role, she had the opportunity to participate in several trials, including a Federal civil jury trial, and to argue before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, California.
In November 2007, Melanie went to work for the Carson City District Attorney's Office, as a criminal prosecutor. She has held the ranks of both Deputy District Attorney and a Supervising Deputy District Attorney and has handled every type of criminal case, from traffic tickets to murder, in every stage of those proceedings, from filing the initial charges through the appeal. She is a seasoned trial attorney, having taken approximately 30 cases to jury trial over the past 18 years. Not only has Melanie handled thousands of criminal cases during her career, but she has also been assigned to be “on call,” providing advice to law enforcement, assisting in obtaining search warrants and responding to critical incidents 24 hours a day. She has been assigned to advise the K9 unit and the Tri-Net Narcotics Task Force and volunteered to teach legal updates to the Sheriff’s Office, to teach classes to new recruits at Nevada POST and at the Nevada State Police Academy.
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In addition to prosecuting her own cases, Melanie has trained many young prosecutors and enjoys sharing her knowledge, skills and passion for the job with other attorneys who are starting their legal careers. She has worked hard to foster a solid working relationship and communication between the District Attorney’s Office and the Sheriff’s Office. She has spent many hours helping both new and experienced attorneys and law enforcement officers build cases that stand up in court. Melanie hopes to bring this wide variety of experience to Storey County to serve the citizens of the community. She will work hard to develop and maintain a good working relationship with the Sheriff’s Office, and to provide education, training and legal advice, with the goals of promoting public safety and building cases for successful prosecution.
Along with handling thousands of cases, Melanie has met hundreds of victims of crime – both adults and children – many who are living through some of the worst experiences of their lives. As her former boss once said about her, Melanie files on cases that many other prosecutors would not touch – because those victims are important, and their cases matter. She has strived to give victims a voice in court, to provide resources beyond the courtroom, and to seek restitution to help victims obtain justice. Melanie is looking forward to providing a high level of compassion and service to the victims of crime in Storey County.
"Proven Prosecutor Committed to You"
- Melanie Brantingham