Maria Wentz
Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney
When Maria Wentz began working at the Kenton County Commonwealth’s Attorney in 2014, she found herself assisting senior prosecutors in cases involving assault and child abuse. After gaining experience in prosecuting child-victim cases, Wentz realized that she enjoyed seeking justice for children, which is what her caseload primarily consists of today.
A native of Northern Kentucky, Wentz obtained an undergraduate degree from the University of Dayton in 2011 with a major in business entrepreneurship and marketing. With an interest in business law that stemmed from her father’s maritime law practice in Covington, Wentz decided to attend law school at DePaul University’s College of Law in Chicago, where she graduated in 2014.
“I interned with Rob Sanders’s office between my second and third year of law school,” Wentz said. “During that time, I learned so much and I really enjoyed working in the office and the passion of the prosecutor’s team.”
Wentz began working at the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office in November 2014 and says that she has really enjoyed her time at the office. Wentz said she particularly enjoys working in Sanders’ office because of the team’s dynamic.
“Child-victim cases, by their very nature, are difficult,” she said. “The circumstances and evidence in these cases are often difficult to hear and see, and there are often long periods of time between the criminal acts and getting them reported to authorities. In addition, it’s hard to ask kids to testify about these issues. Luckily, this office has a great balance of talented people all working for the same goal, which makes bringing justice to these kids much more possible.”
Wentz believes other contributing factors to her success in these cases are the inter-disciplinary relationships that she has been able to develop and foster while working as a prosecutor. Her relationships with doctors, law-enforcement officials, advocacy groups, and community stakeholders allow her to build better cases for the prosecutor’s office and bring justice to more child victims.
Wentz, who lives in Northern Kentucky, said that focusing on listening and not taking things too personally are two primary attributes that have helped her succeed as a prosecutor.
