The Orange County Prosecutor’s Office and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office have reached a settlement with federal authorities over the alleged illegal use of informants at the county jail, the root of a years-long scandal that has upended the county’s justice system.
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it had reached an agreement with the Department of Security that requires training, policy changes, documentation, and audits to continue oversight of the use of informants in prisons. Federal prosecutors will also have access to the data to see if the department has implemented necessary reforms.
The agreement with the sheriff’s department appears to end years of scandals that have plagued the county’s judicial system and tainted some of its highest-profile prosecutors.
Details of the illegal use of informants first emerged during the trial of Scott DeKrai, who killed his ex-wife and seven other people in the 2011 Seal Beach mass shooting. Informant in the next cell.
DeKrai’s attorney at the time, Orange County Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders, accused the Sheriff’s Department of placing informants near the defendant to solicit confessions even after the defendant was represented by an attorney. did. Prosecutors were also accused of concealing evidence about the use of informants during the trial, keeping the act secret and preventing exculpatory information from reaching defense attorneys.
The Orange County public defender’s office estimated that more than 50 felony trials, most of them murder cases, were tainted and affected by the snitching scandal.
The U.S. Department of Justice launched an investigation into the use of prison informants in 2016, finding that informants were being used as “agents of law enforcement to extract incriminating statements.” He said it was clear.
A statement from the Justice Department announcing the findings said prosecutors maintained and concealed records tracking and controlling informants in prison for years, and that prosecutors “have no control over informants in custody.” “They have failed to seek out exculpatory information and disclose it to their defense attorneys.”
Sanders said in a statement that he hopes the agreement means better practices in the future, but many Orange County criminal defendants are still unsure how the use of informants has affected their trials. He said that.
“This is the largest and longest-running tipping scandal in American history, yet far too many defendants remain in the dark about gross misconduct that tipped the scales of justice unfairly,” he said.
When this scandal came to light, then-Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens and Orange County District Sheriff Atty. Tony Rackokas denied the charges. The scandal became a major issue when Mr. Rackauckas ran for re-election. He has now lost to Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer was appointed in 2019.
“When I ran for Orange County District Attorney in 2019, I made it clear that I did not accept the ‘win at all costs’ mentality of the previous administration,” Spitzer said in a statement. “Under my direction, OCDA has taken a wide range of additional proactive reform actions to improve OCDA’s operations, including changes to management structure, policy, training, oversight, and staffing.”
The sheriff’s office said in a statement that it is pleased the investigation has concluded.
“Since 2016, we have worked diligently to implement comprehensive reforms regarding detained informants,” Sheriff Don Burns said in a statement. “This agreement provides a framework for the Department of Justice to examine these efforts and establish policies and practices that will help us become the best in the nation.”
Under the agreement, the sheriff’s office must publish information and seek feedback on reforms, including the use of informants.
“The robust and transparent verification measures included in today’s agreement will strengthen public confidence in the Sheriff’s Office and protect the constitutional rights of criminal defendants in custody,” said Atty. said. Gen. Kristen Clark of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. “We applaud the sheriff’s proactive efforts to take major improvements to prevent the abuse of detained informants at the Orange County Jail.”
The agreement with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department comes days after the Department of Justice announced it had also reached an agreement with the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
The agreement also requires prosecutors to implement new policies to prevent the abuse of informants, maintain records and audits, and release exculpatory evidence to criminal defendants involved in snitching. There is.
Among the new policies, jail informants must be approved by the sheriff and informants used in prosecutions must be vetted by the district attorney’s office’s internal review board.
Orange County Public Defender Martin F. Schwartz said, “We hope that these procedures will provide the necessary oversight and accountability to prevent future problems.”
Schwartz said the agreement requires a “historical review” of the cases affected and noted that the use of informants in investigations has repeatedly proven problematic. .
“Informants in custody are inherently unreliable, their testimony is one of the leading causes of wrongful convictions, and their use as witnesses in criminal cases is evaluated at the highest level. “We should,” he said.
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