While the circumstances aren't the same, by any means, the spirit of Hank Quinlan is alive and well in Orange County, California (h/t Gino):
On October 12, 2011, Orange County experienced the deadliest mass killing in its modern history. Scott Dekraai killed 8 people, including his ex-wife, in a Seal Beach beauty salon. He was arrested wearing full body armor just a few blocks away. Without a doubt, Dekraai was the perpetrator. A dozen surviving witnesses saw him. He admitted to the shooting early on. Yet, nearly four years later, the case against him has all but fallen apart.What happened? Well, it turns out that Orange County has a way to get evidence that's not exactly above board:
It turns out that prosecutors and police officers committed an egregious violation of Dekraai's rights—so much so that Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals shocked everyone and removed the Orange County District Attorney's Office, and all 250 prosecutors, from having anything more to do with the case.
It turns out that Orange County has a secret system of evidence manufacturing and storage that they have used in countless cases, and the collusion is unraveling dozens of cases and may soon unravel the careers of countless prosecutors and law enforcement officers who've maintained it for decades. It's called TRED.How it works: Dekraai was placed in a cell next to a jailhouse informant, who just happened to be there and was all too willing to testify against Dekraai. This was, apparently, a common practice in Orange County, a way of getting testimony from defendants while their lawyers weren't available. Not surprisingly, prosecutors and law enforcement concealed the practice from the lawyers who were representing the defendants, to say nothing judges and juries who were involved in the cases.
This is a despicable practice for a number of reasons, but what's most irritating is that it's just laziness. In the Dekraai case, there is circumstantial evidence galore and a ton of eyewitness testimony. But to cinch the deal, the prosecution used the tainted evidence and that calls the entire result into question. Worse, there's a decent chance that Dekraai may walk because of the prosecutorial misconduct. And there was no need for it.
There's a lot more at the link, which comes from the Daily Kos. While I don't give Daily Kos much credit for their political analysis, I tend to trust this account. We can't have any Hank Quinlans in law enforcement.
9 comments:
(the Kos is merely reporting on somebody else's reporting here. its not their story.) people need to go to prison for this. but i doubt anybody will.
as long as we have this stuff going on, we will have trouble in the streets because the police departments are in on it.
I get that, Gino. I do think some other readers will have the tendency to discount the post because of the source. Again, thanks for the tip on this story. It is important.
http://www.latimes.com/local/orangecounty/la-me-jailhouse-snitch-20150313-story.html
Cheap shot would be this; is the LA Times any better than the Daily Kos?
Dunno, really, if the source matters, as long as they get the name of the judge and accused right. You can search pretty good law reviews and find out what the judge believed pretty quickly. And if it's true, give all involved the full Nifong, because half the danger in the inner city seems to be because people there don't believe the cops are honest and won't talk to them. Hence the thugs stay on the streets.
Pretty remarkable that such a system stayed secret for a while. What is it these days that people don't speak up when they know something is wrong?
its because cops are a dishonest, bullying type of people, Bubba. and prosecutors are not much different, if at all.
this should be front page large font news in every city. this is our justice system at stake. without faith in it, we may have anarchy and a vendetta culture, much like the southern italy my people left behind.
Gino, the trick is that even if I accepted your hypothesis in toto--as in all cops and prosecutors are dishonest and bullying (a hypothesis I don't think that even you would endorse)--I'd still have expected the façade to have cracked somehow. It's pretty impressive that it held for as long as it did--you'd expect that out of Cosa Nostra, but not a free government.
Pretty remarkable that such a system stayed secret for a while. What is it these days that people don't speak up when they know something is wrong?
I don't know. Perhaps we could ask Joe the Plumber, or Chief Justice Roberts, or....
Bubba: bully tactics are part of the DA's trade. you threaten Murder One and 20yrs in exchange for his admission to Manslaughter and 5 yrs. and now you have another 'win' in your column. cops are the same way, they have guns and sticks to get you to comply to their commands.
as for people speaking up... i hear them pretty regular. you forget what my side business is.
Cosa Nostra has more checks on their behavior, btw.
Gino, I wonder if RA nails it. Is there silence among authorities because politicians will beat the **** out of them if they speak up? It is certainly the pattern.
In OC, there is silence among the authorities out of fear of the cops and DA. Recent stories on that too.
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