Attorney General Dave Sunday is a lifelong central Pennsylvanian, growing up in Cumberland and Dauphin counties. He attended Penn State University where he earned his undergraduate degree in Finance, and Widener University Commonwealth Law School where he earned his Juris Doctor degree.
The decision to join the United States Navy after high school would become a defining moment, setting the course for his future and shaping his character, experiences, and opportunities in a profound way. As an enlisted recruit he was deployed to the Persian Gulf where he participated in Operation Desert Strike. Attorney General Sunday was also deployed to South America and conducted numerous counter-narcotics operations in the Caribbean. While serving, he learned what it takes to be an effective leader under tremendous pressure. He proudly carries on the Navy core principles of honor, commitment, and courage to this day.
During Law School, Attorney General Sunday had the opportunity to work as a legal intern at the United Nations Office of the Secretariat in New York where he was assigned to the Department of Peacekeeping Operations.
After graduation from law school, he worked as Law Clerk for the Honorable Joseph C. Adams, York County Court of Common Pleas. Attorney General Sunday has been a prosecutor with the York County District Attorney’s Office since 2009, where he served in various roles. In addition to serving as District Attorney for the past seven years, he supervised Major Crime cases and the Felony Narcotics Unit. Additionally, he served as the Legal Advisor to the District Attorney’s Drug Task Force and York County Quick Response (a.k.a. SWAT) Team.
In 2013, Attorney General Sunday was appointed by the United States Department of Justice as a Special Assistant United States Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, where he assisted in the prosecution of gang, illegal gun, and drug cases in Federal Court. It was during this time period that he led the prosecution of Operation Sunrise, which was a large scale multi-jurisdictional arrest and prosecution of over 100 members and/or affiliates of the “Latin Kings,” a violent criminal gang operating in York County.
As an elected District Attorney, he led York County’s fight against the opioid epidemic, fought to protect seniors through his role on the Elder Abuse Task Force, helped to forge partnerships with healthcare systems and the courts to deal with the increasing challenges surrounding mental health, and personally tried approximately 50 felony jury trials to verdict including the successful prosecution of more than 10 of the most high profile York County murder trials in recent memory.
In addition to homicides, Attorney General Sunday has successfully prosecuted Murder Conspiracies, the Attempted Murder of a Police Officer, multiple Murders for Hire, Felony Narcotics Deliveries, Aggravated Assaults, Burglaries, Armed Robberies, Bank Robberies, Insurance Fraud Cases, Thefts and Elder Fraud Scams to name a few.
Beyond trial work, Attorney General Sunday previously served as President of the York County Bar Association, Chair of the York Opioid Collaborative, Chair of the Education and Training Committee of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association (PDAA), was appointed to the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing by Speaker of the House Mike Turzai in 2020, and was selected to serve on behalf of the PDAA on the Pennsylvania Commission for Crime and Delinquency’s (PCCD) statewide Mental Health and Justice Advisory Committee.
Attorney General Sunday and his wife, Lishani, have one son, Bodhi, and reside in Spring Garden Township, York County.