An Orange County Superior Court judge has ruled District Attorney Tony Rackauckas’ office is disrupting the region’s “orderly administration of justice” by blocking the judge whose ruling broke open the county’s jail informants scandal from hearing other murder cases.
Tag: Jailhouse Snitch Scandal
Posted inGovernment, Investigative, Top Stories
Supervisors Discuss Possibility of Feds Investigating Jailhouse Informants Scandal
Supervisors Tuesday discussed in closed session the possibility of the U.S. Justice Department investigating alleged misconduct by prosecutors and sheriff’s deputies involving evidence gleaned from jailhouse informants.
Posted inCountywide, Government, Investigative, Top Stories
Another Murder Conviction Reversed in Wake of Jail Informant Scandal
An Orange County Superior Court judge has overturned a man’s conviction for a 2006 murder in Santa Ana, ruling that the prosecution team violated the man’s constitutional rights in using a jailhouse informant to win a confession.
Posted inGovernment, Investigative, Top Stories
Supervisors Ready to Expand Role of Law Enforcement Watchdog
After months of wrangling, supervisors’s Chairman Todd Spitzer secured the necessary votes to expand the scope of the county’s Office of Independent Review to include the DA.
Posted inGovernment, Investigative, Top Stories
DA Pushes Back Against Effort to Expand County Oversight Office
Tony Rackauckas has gone public with his opposition to an effort to expand county supervisors’ oversight of his office. Whether there’s enough support for the expansion should be revealed during today’s supervisors meeting.
Posted inCountywide, Norberto Santana Jr.
Santana: OC Supervisors Continue to Face an Accountability Crisis
Voice of OC Publisher Norberto Santana Jr. again delves into the seemingly politicized process underway to expand Office of Independent Review oversight beyond the jails and into other agencies.
Posted inCountywide, Government, Investigative, News Briefs, Top Stories
Wozniak Judge Refuses to Hold Hearing on Informants
Judge John D. Conley wrote that public defenders for accused murderer Daniel Patrick Wozniak had failed to show “outrageous government misconduct” involving a jail informant.
Posted inCosta Mesa, Countywide, Investigative, Top Stories
Prior Murder Adds Another Layer to Wozniak Case
Samuel E. Herr, the Costa Mesa man Daniel Patrick Wozniak allegedly killed and decapitated in 2010, was himself acquitted of murder charges more than a decade ago.
Posted inGovernment, Investigative, Top Stories
Amid Informants Scandal, Supervisors Discuss Larger Role for Watchdog
Meeting focused on whether the purview of the Office of Independent Review, which is currently limited to the Sheriff’s Department, should also include the District Attorney and other agencies related to law enforcement.
Posted inCountywide, Investigative, Norberto Santana Jr.
Santana: Will OC Supes Expand Office of Independent Review?
Voice of OC Publisher Norberto Santana Jr. ponders what expansion of independent oversight to agencies like DA, Public Defender and Probation might look like and whether OC Supervisors have the pocketbook to play.
