Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/orange-county-sheriffs-department/)
Confessed mass murderer Scott Evans Dekraai will receive life in prison after Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals Friday blocked him from receiving the death penalty.
In an official response to the Orange County Grand Jury’s June report, which called the jailhouse informant scandal a “myth,” District Attorney Tony Rackauckas agreed with most of the report’s findings, except for those which criticized his department for a lack of training protocols and procedure.
It’s one of several questions Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals is considering before ruling Aug. 18 on whether or not confessed mass murderer Scott Evans Dekraai faces the death penalty
Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals will announce Friday if mass murderer Scott Evans Dekraai faces the death penalty in a case that upended at least six other criminal convictions, damaged the reputations of both the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and District Attorney’s Office and unveiled the “jailhouse snitch scandal.”
Attorneys gave their final arguments at a hearing Thursday, which addresses allegations by the defense that the failure by prosecutors and the Sheriff’s Department to turn over records in the past – and the potential that they still haven’t turned over everything – suggest Dekraai won’t receive a fair penalty trial and he should be spared the death penalty.
Fire Authority officials say they’ve been performing air rescues for over 20 years and are well-equipped for the job, but that in recent years sheriff’s helicopter crews have been racing to the scene and taking control.
Over $100 million in taxpayer money has been spent since the most recent audit, which was in 2002. The aging system is proprietary, and no bids have been sought from other companies for its $140 million overhaul.
As the 1990s-era equipment becomes obsolete, county supervisors and Sheriff Sandra Hutchens have opted not to ask other companies what they could offer as a replacement for the current system. The upgrade project is expected to cost $140 million.
Sheriff Sandra Hutchens agrees that serious failures by her own jail managers probably enabled last year’s jailbreak.
She testified she believes there was no widespread misuse of jailhouse informants by her department, but sheriff’s deputies moved confidential informants in the jails to elicit incriminating statements from defendants over the course of years.