Biden selects Darden

SANDUSKY — A local woman could make state history pending her nomination as a U.S. district attorney. Marisa T. Darden, a Sandusky native, was nominated by the White House to serve as federal prosecutor for Ohio's Northern District, according to a press release. If the nomination is approved by the U.S. Senate, Darden would be the first Black woman to serve as a U.S. district attorney for the state of Ohio. It's not the first time her family has broken new ground. Darden's grandfather, the Rev. Thomas Darden, was the first Black man to be elected as a Sandusky city commissioner and then the first to be selected mayor. Marisa's father, Thom Darden, who played NFL football for the Cleveland Browns, as a safety and punt returner, said Marisa showed promise as a young kid. "Marisa was a bright kid," the younger Thom Darden said. "She was beyond her years even as a young child, she could have done anything." Marisa was born in Thom's last year in the NFL. Thom said her work ethic was clear very early on, when she would tag along with him when they went to work in downtown Cleveland as a 4-year old. "From the ages of 3 to 7 I would take her to work with me," Thom said. "The girls at the front desk would have her answering the phones." As the top prosecutor of Ohio's Northern District, Darden would oversee federal criminal cases in 40 counties, including Erie, Ottawa, Sandusky and Huron counties. Thom said Marisa's impressive legal experience would serve her community well. "It's a tremendous opportunity and appointment for her," her father said. "She's prepared herself for it." Between 2011 and 2014 Marisa was an assistant district attorney for the New York County District Attorney's Office in Manhattan. In 2014, Darden began work as an assistant district attorney, where she remained for five years before practicing out of the Cleveland office of the law firm Squire Patton Boggs. "She has a wealth of experience that will serve her well for this position," Thom said. "The biggest thing is her ability to delineate. She is able to take the facts and put them in the right order and right place for whatever case she works on or decision she has to make." "She has a tremendous mind," Thom said. "She is able to decipher things quickly, she is an outside the box thinker, she'll do a tremendous job." Thom said the roots of Marisa's dedication and achievement is her grandfather, Rev. Thomas Darden. "It starts with my father," Thom said. "He spent a lot of time with Marisa in her formative years." Rev. Darden said Marisa was a close companion during his later years of term in city government. Darden said Marisa had a very early exposure to public service, sitting in on meetings with him as a toddler. "We've always had a very close relationship, when she was younger we would spend a lot of time together." Rev. Darden said. "She went with me on a lot of my affairs and meetings for various issues." Thom said his father instilled a sense of community service in both him and his daughter. "He always said 'if you're going to live somewhere make it a better place,' we bought into that and we believe that." Rev. Thomas Darden said that Marisa's compassion will be a strength for her in the position as U.S. Attorney is nominated. "She always has been one to care for others, she has been all her life," Darden said. "She always puts others before herself." Rev. Darden recalled a childhood memory in which Marisa gave her bike away to a neighbor who did not have one. "She was just a different child," Rev. Darden said.