Kochems to run for D.A. in Mercer

MERCER, Pa. — Assistant District Attorney Robert G. Kochems will run for district attorney in this year’s election.

Kochems, 55, of Grove City, has been an assistant district attorney since 1988. In 2005, he was credited with 974 trials, hearings and proceedings, making him one of the most experienced criminal courtroom attorneys in the county.

He is the main contact attorney for the Mercer County Drug Task Force and works with citizens groups and government and law enforcement agencies on drug prevention. He has also been the law director of the Sharon/Farrell Weed and Seed program since June 2001.

Kochems’ other legal accomplishments include having been the first attorney in charge of the district attorney’s Child Abuse Prosecution Unit, serving as solicitor for Mercer County Regional Planning Commission since 1992 and is solicitor to three boroughs and seven townships.

In addition to his full-time work as an assistant district attorney, Kochems has practiced law in Mercer since 1976, emphasizing family law, estates, elder law and real estate.

A native of Cleveland, Kochems earned his law degree from St. Louis University School of Law, where he was an associate editor of the St. Louis University Law Journal. He also graduated cum laude from John Carroll University, where he was president of Alpha Sigma Nu, the Jesuit National Honor Society.