Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/tony-rackauckas/)
The move came after an appeals court found prosecutors had systemically violated defendants’ rights with an illegal informant program, according to the DA’s office.
“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.
The judge called it an effort at a “back room dismissal by prosecutors without the alleged victims ever having the opportunity to be heard.”
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.
Former District Attorney Tony Rackauckas quietly decided last year to not have prosecutors tell defense attorneys about 10 sheriff deputies suspected of lying about or concealing records about jail informants.
It’s first time in years Orange County DA officials have been known to place a politician under surveillance for alleged residency fraud.
In sworn testimony, Mayor Miguel Pulido was accused of running a side business personally renting out city-owned property and interfering with police decisions about which illegal pot shops to raid. Pulido denies the allegations.
Two top Santa Ana officials, including a former police chief, alleged under oath the city’s police union leader engaged in bribery of City Council candidates in 2016, saying Sgt. Gerry Serrano told candidates they had to agree to fire then-Police Chief Carlos Rojas in order to benefit from $400,000 in campaign spending.
Sgt. Gerry Serrano went from facing potential DUI hit-and-run charges to leading one of the larger police unions in California. Voice of OC is publishing portions of the DUI police report for the first time.
U.S. Senator Kamala Harris, former state attorney general, defended her refusal to launch a large investigation into the Orange County District Attorney for the jailhouse informant program and said the county could handle it, reported the New York Times.