Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/orange-county-superior-court/)
“It would be impossible for the District Attorney’s office to prosecute this case in an ethical fashion,” said Orange County Superior Court Judge Gregory W. Jones.
A local judge is deciding whether to remove the entire DA’s Office from the case and transfer it to state prosecutors under the California Attorney General.
A lawsuit alleging Orange County supervisors have unconstitutionally restricted public comments got the green light to move forward Wednesday.
A legal battle over whether Orange County prosecutors improperly tried to drop rape charges took a new turn Friday.
Prosecutors said Judge Gregory W. Jones’ ruling “unfairly maligns our reputations” and has numerous factual errors. A hearing in the case is set for 9 a.m. Friday.
“The United States Supreme Court has long recognized that the Constitution ‘does not import an absolute right in each person to be, at all times and in all circumstances, wholly free from constraint,’ ” wrote OC Superior Court Judge Nathan R. Scott.
The new measures will result in less people in the jails, reads an administrative order from OC Superior Presiding Judge Kirk Nakamura, “thus alleviating some of the pressures for arraignments within 48 hours and preliminary hearings within 10 days.”
OC Court officials have partly backed off reopening courtrooms for hearings amid a higher court order to close for two weeks and public health orders for OC residents to stay at home, after scenes from the main courthouse in Santa Ana on Thursday drew outrage from attorneys and county officials.
Spitzer denounced what some attorneys decried as a serious public safety hazard at the main courthouse in Santa Ana today, but a day earlier he urged court staff and attorneys to remain calm and assured that measures were in place to protect attorneys and court staff.
Assistant DA Tony Ferrentino, who apparently declined to prosecute a police officer arrested for DUI hit-and-run, has already won his election to become an OC Superior Court judge.