Politics, Government & Business in California's Inland Empire
By Sean Emery / Staff Writer
Aug. 17, 2016 – Updated 10:08 p.m.
SANTA ANA – An Orange County judge offered to remove himself from a murder trial Wednesday, only to learn that attorneys on both sides want him to stay on a case that involves allegations of prosecutors falsifying evidence.
Published: Aug. 16, 2016
Updated: Aug. 17, 2016 – 7:50 a.m.
Amid an ongoing jailhouse informants scandal that suggests Orange County sheriff’s deputies may have violated defendants’ civil liberties, Sheriff Sandra Hutchens has hired a full-time adviser to review her department’s practices to ensure they are constitutionally sound.
By Tony Saavedra / Staff Writer
Aug. 15, 2016
Updated Aug. 16, 2016 – 7:25 a.m.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals threw a curve Monday to lawyers seeking removal of the District Attorney’s Office from a murder case following allegations of falsifying and withholding evidence.
By Jordan Graham / Staff Writer
Updated Aug. 6, 2016 – 8:25 a.m.
The state’s political watchdog has launched an investigation into whether Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas violated the Political Reform Act by failing to report charitable donations he used his influence to solicit, and by approving public funds to be spent promoting his chief of staff’s business partner.
By Alma Fausto / Staff Writer
Updated Aug. 6, 2016 8:25 a.m.
The 4th District Court of Appeal rejected a request Friday by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office for a rehearing on a ruling that was mainly in the office’s favor.
By Jordan Graham / Staff Writer
Updated July 26, 2016 – 7:39 a.m.
Orange County supervisors are expected to vote Tuesday to add a countywide initiative to the November ballot asking voters to change their office’s term limits.
By Tony Saavedras, Staff Writer
July 22, 2016
The American Civil Liberties Union sent volunteer watchers into local courtrooms Friday, a move aimed at bringing attention to what the civil rights group describes as routine cheating by prosecutors in Orange County.
By Jordan Graham / Staff Writer
published: July 7, 2016
Updated: July 8, 2016 – 6:29 a.m.
An Orange County supervisor has proposed a countywide initiative for the November ballot that would change term limits for him, his colleagues and future board members.
Tony Saavedra / Staff Writer
Published: June 30, 2016
Updated: July 1, 2016 – 7:38 a.m.
The American Civil Liberties Union is threatening to sue the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, the latest salvo in the group’s onging investigation into the county’s use of jailhouse informants.
Joe Nelson, The Sun
Neil Nisperos, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Stephen Wall, The Press-Enterprise
Posted: 06/21/16 – 10:09 PM PDT |
Inland public employees aren’t just earning a paycheck, but collecting hefty compensation packages that often dwarf their base salaries, an open-records advocacy group announced Tuesday.
Associated Press
Posted: 06/11/2016 – 11:47:28 PM PDT
Updated: 06/11/2016 – 11:48:01 PM PDT
SANTA ANA — Authorities in Orange County have acknowledged an extensive log detailing the handling of jailhouse informants was kept by sheriff’s deputies but never released despite court hearings last year over the use of snitches in the high-profile case of a mass killer.
Tony Saavedra / Staff Writer
June 9, 2016 – Updated 10:49 p.m.
Secret notes kept by Orange County sheriff’s deputies on jailhouse informants appear to contradict testimony given by deputies during legal hearings for confessed Seal Beach mass murderer Scott Dekraai, prosecutors said late Thursday.
By Sean Emery / Staff Writer
May 31, 2016 – Updated 11:03 p.m.
SANTA ANA – A dispute over a robocall urging voters to support a local ethics commission had Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas and an Orange County supervisor on Tuesday accusing each other of wrongdoing.
The insults continued a yearslong feud between the two.
By Tony Saavedra / Staff Writer
Published: May 9, 2016
Updated: May 10, 2016 7:39 a.m.
Convicted double murderer Henry Rodriguez was released on bail Monday after 18 years in prison, another felony case upended because of questions related to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office’s use of jailhouse informants.
Erika Aguilar
May 05, 2016 – 09:36 PM
Orange County sheriff’s officials have assigned an investigative sergeant to monitor how and if jailhouse informants will be used with the Sheriff’s consultation after deputies failed to disclose records to the court on the department’s inmate informant program.
Christopher Goffard
March 15, 2016
Attorneys for a man accused in a Lake Forest assault have asked that the Orange County district attorney’s office be thrown off the case, citing “a pattern of intimidation” against defense witnesses — most recently when one of the district attorney’s investigators bloodied an attorney in a courthouse hallway.
By Sean Emery, Tony Saavedra and Scott Schwebke / Staff Writers
March 11, 2016 – Updated 8:04 a.m.
SANTA ANA – An Orange County defense attorney on Thursday launched an online petition calling for the arrest of a district attorney’s investigator involved in a courthouse altercation with Orange lawyer James Crawford.
Richard Winton
March 9, 2016
The 10th floor of a Santa Ana courthouse was the site of a bloody brawl Wednesday between a defense attorney and an investigator from the Orange County district attorney’s office, authorities said.
By Tony Saavedra and Scott Schwebke / Staff writers
March 4, 2016 – Updated 6:08 p.m.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California jumped into the Orange County fight over jailhouse informants on Friday, filing a public records request seeking access to internal law enforcement files dating back to 1985.
By Meghann M. Cuniff / Staff Writer
Updated Jan. 13, 2016 8:34 a.m.
The Orange County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday told the district attorney and sheriff to estimate how much it will cost to implement an outside legal committee’s reform recommendations in the wake of the county’s jailhouse informant controversy.
Matt Hamilton and James Queally
December 4, 2015
A “failure of leadership” at the Orange County district attorney’s office led to repeated problems with the handling of jailhouse informants and helped erode confidence in criminal cases that rely on their testimony, according to a report made public Monday.
Dec. 31, 2015 – Updated 8:59 a.m.
About this story: This report was written by Edward Humes, the author of 13 nonfiction books and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his Orange County Register coverage of the military. The story is based on extensive reporting by the Register’s staff, including Tony Saavedra, David Ferrell, Kelly Puente, Tom Berg and Ian Wheeler, previously published stories and legal documents obtained by the newspaper since the arrest of Scott Dekraai after the worst mass shooting in Orange County history. Illustrations were drawn by Jeff Goertzen.
Read more at the Register’s ‘Inside the Snitch Tank’ site
Prologue
On his last day of freedom, Scott Dekraai spoke on the phone with his ex-wife. Let’s meet for coffee, he suggested.
By David Ferrell and Tony Saavedra
December 27, 2015 – Updated 12:33 p.m.
Tough, street-smart Tony Rackauckas, who left gang-marred East Los Angeles to jump from the sky as a U.S. Army paratrooper, has spent the better part of his legal career in one battle or another.
By Jessica Kwong / Staff Writer
Dec. 24, 2015 – Updated 9:25 a.m.
SANTA ANA – Employees with Orange County’s largest union are heading into the holidays assured of their biggest salary raise since the recession, under a three-year contract the Board of Supervisors approved Wednesday morning.
By Martin Wisckol / Staff Writer
Dec. 9, 2015
Updated Dec. 10, 2015 – 7:54 a.m.
In the latest milestone of Orange County’s shifting political milieu, Republicans’ share of voter registration has fallen below 40 percent for the first time in the county’s history.
By Kelly Puente and Tony Saavedra / Staff Writers
Nov. 19, 2015
Updated Nov. 20, 2015 – 12:36 p.m.
After four sheriff’s deputies refused to testify in court on grounds of self-incrimination, an Orange County judge on Wednesday granted a new trial for a gang member convicted of murder.
By Tony Saavedra / Staff Writer
Nov. 19, 2015
Updated Nov. 22, 2015 – 3:56 a.m.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office on Thursday blasted a letter by more than three dozen former prosecutors and legal heavy-hitters calling for a federal investigation into the use of jailhouse informants as ill-timed and ill informed.
By Rex Dalton
November 18, 2015 at 2:00 PM
A coalition of national legal authorities is calling for a federal investigation of the Orange County District Attorney and Sheriff’s Department for alleged systemic violations of defendants’ rights involving jail informants.
Sept. 30, 2015 – Updated 11:18 p.m.
ORANGE – A top official for the Orange County District Attorney’s Office had a one-word response Wednesday to widespread accusations that local prosecutors illegally use jailhouse informants and withhold evidence beneficial to the defense: “baloney.”
By Jonathan Lansner / Staff Columnist
Sept. 28, 2015 – Updated 12:00 a.m.
The start of the year was very good for Orange County paychecks.
By Scott Schwebke / Staff Writer
Updated: Sept. 22, 2015 7:36 a.m.
Police shootings from helicopters, like what happened Friday when San Bernardino deputies opened fire during a freeway chase, are unusual but not unheard of in Orange County.
By Tony Saavedra / Staff Writer
July 22, 2015
Updated July 23, 2015 10:32 a.m.
Related stories
The U.S. Department of Justice is looking at the jailhouse informant scandal in Orange County, a move that could lead to a federal takeover of the District Attorney’s Office.
By Margot Roosevelt / Staff Writer
June 24, 2015 – Updated 11:29 p.m.
Orange County will add more jobs this year than at any time in the past 15 years, buoyed in part by a reviving national economy, Chapman University economists predict.
By Tony Saavedra / Staff Writer
Updated: June 19, 2015 – 8:50 p.m.
A single missing document in a DUI case, noticed three months ago by a courtroom clerk, set off a probe by the FBI and local prosecutors that has grown to more than 1,000 cases of suspected record fixing.
By Tony Saavedra and Kelly Puente / Staff Writers
June 12, 2015
Updated June 13, 2015 – 8:16 a.m.
The FBI and county prosecutors are investigating fake plea deals and forgeries recorded in hundreds of DUI and misdemeanor traffic cases at Orange County Superior Court.
Monday, June 1, 2015 – 8:45 a.m.
In America, politics can and does infiltrate the justice system. It happens more than people realize.
Right now Orange County, California is front and center.
By R. Scott Moxley
Mon. Jun. 1 2015 at 3:00 AM
All prayers inside the Orange County district attorney’s office (OCDA) that their 16-month jailhouse informant scandal would quietly disappear as just another empty, partisan controversy likely ended on May 31 thanks to veteran journalist Kevin D. Williamson, a frequent guest on Fox News, CNBC, MSNBC and NPR.
by Kevin D. Williamson
May 31, 2015 4:00 AM
@kevinNR
The GOP should turn its attention to prosecutorial misconduct.
As the old Vulcan proverb has it, “Only Nixon can go to China.” And only Nixon’s political heirs can fix the persistent — and terrifying — problems that continue to plague this country’s law-enforcement agencies and prosecutors’ offices.
Exhibit A: Orange County, California.
By Shaun King
Friday, May 29, 2015 at 11:26 AM PDT
Between San Diego and Los Angeles is Orange County, California. With more than 3 million residents, it’s larger than 21 states. If Orange County were a separate country, its economy would be the 45th largest in the world. Now known for Disneyland, the county may soon be known for having one of the most corrupt justice systems in the world. The width and depth and duration of the corruption truly boggles the mind. A case that should’ve been open and shut has blown the lid off some deep secrets.
By Emily Foxhall
May 13, 2015
An Orange County judge who is being threatened with recall for giving a child molester a lenient prison sentence contends he is a respected jurist who is the victim of a “misleading” campaign.
By Adam Elmahrek
May 11, 2015 at 2:53 PM
Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido has agreed to pay $13,000 in fines to the state’s political watchdog for several violations of state law related to a real estate deal he conducted with a city contractor.
By Emily Foxhall
May 4, 2015
A group behind the effort to recall an Orange County Superior Court judge filed the necessary paperwork Monday with the county’s Registrar of Voters to get the process underway.
April 22, 2015
Updated April 21, 2015 – 7:36 p.m.
By MEGHANN M. CUNIFF / STAFF WRITER
The Orange County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday formally called for Superior Court Judge M. Marc Kelly to resign because of his decision to sentence a child rapist to 10 years instead of the mandatory minimum of 25 years.
By Adam Elmahrek
April 15, 2015 at 7:28 AM
Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas will be clearing Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido of any criminal wrongdoing related to a property swap between the mayor and a city contractor, according to sources with knowledge of the decision.
By Emily Foxhall
April 9, 2015
In more than 15 years on the bench, Orange County Superior Court Judge M. Marc Kelly said, he had never run into a case like the 19-year-old child molester facing a minimum 25-year prison term.
By Abby Phillip
April 7, 2015 at 4:48 PM
In December, a jury convicted 20-year-old Kevin Jonas Rojano-Nieto of sexually assaulting a 3-year-old girl. In California, that charge comes with a minimum sentence of 25 years to life.
By Emily Foxhall, Doug Smith and Anh Do
March 27, 2015
On paper, the race for Orange County supervisor seemed to be Lou Correa’s to win.
By Keegan Kyle / Staff Writer
March 27, 2015 – Updated 9:47 p.m.
Orange County’s population growth is little more than a trickle these days, according to figures released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau.
By REX DALTON
March 20, 2015 at 5:41 PM
The state Attorney General’s Office announced today it will conduct “an independent investigation” of alleged misconduct by Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackaukas’ office in the prosecution of mass murderer Scott Evans Dekraai.
By Christopher Goffard
March 20, 2015
For 3 1/2 years, Paul Wilson has waited for his wife’s killer to face trial, a wait protracted by lengthy evidentiary hearings probing the mishandling of the case by authorities.
By MARTIN WISCKOL / STAFF WRITER
March 19, 2015 – Updated 9:29 p.m.
John Moorlach’s successful bid to fill Orange County’s vacant state Senate seat became a mathematical certainty Thursday evening, with all ballots on hand tallied by election workers and only a smattering of late mail ballots expected to arrive today.
March 16, 2015
Updated March 17, 2015 8:23 a.m.
By Tony Saavedra, Kelly Puente and Tom Berg / Staff Writers
One thing about District Attorney Tony Rackauckas: He’s a street fighter who can take a punch.
March 14, 2015
Updated March 15, 2015 – 8:22 a.m.
BY KELLY PUENTE / STAFF WRITER
Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas conceded Saturday his office made mistakes prosecuting the county’s deadliest killer, but disagrees with a judge’s decision to remove the agency from the case.
By Christopher Goffard
March 13, 2015
For years, Thomas Goethals has weighed the fates of some of Orange County’s most violent criminals. But since the judge began presiding over heated hearings probing the misuse of jailhouse informants, dozens of prosecutors have steered criminal cases away from his courtroom.
By Christopher Goffard
March 12, 2015
In a stinging rebuke, a criminal court judge removed the Orange County district attorney’s office from one of its highest-profile murder cases, saying prosecutors had violated mass shooter Scott Dekraai’s rights by repeatedly failing to turn over important evidence.
Feb. 22, 2015 – 4:25 p.m.
By CITY NEWS SERVICE
SANTA ANA — Former state Sen. Lou Correa raised multiple questions about mistakes and possible fraud in his narrow loss to Andrew Do for Orange County supervisor, but he said it would be too costly to try to overturn the results in a court.
By Anh Do
February 13, 2015
A recount for Orange County’s first district supervisor race ended Friday night, with no change after a review of nearly 6,250 vote-by-mail ballots, officials said.
Feb. 9, 2015
Updated 8:38 p.m.
By MEGHANN M. CUNIFF / STAFF WRITER
The first day of the recount in the 1st District Board of Supervisors election will be the last after Monday ended with no changes to Republican Andrew Do’s 43-vote victory.
By Anh Do and Matt Hamilton
February 4, 2015
A former state senator who lost a special election for a seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors said he has asked for a recount because of concerns over “voting irregularities.”
By Christopher Goffard and Anh Do
January 31, 2015
Few Orange County politicians command the name recognition of Lou Correa, who has held seats in both houses of the California Legislature and on the county’s Board of Supervisors.
Updated – Jan. 31, 2015 9:16 a.m.
By MEGHANN M. CUNIFF / STAFF WRITER
Andrew Do was elected to the 1st District Board of Supervisors seat by 43 votes after the vote-counting wrapped up Friday, leaving Lou Correa, one of Orange County’s longest-standing politicians, jobless for the moment.
Monday, December 29, 2014 – 12:30 p.m.
Our friends at The Orange Juice Blog have penned their final compelling summation of the events surrounding two go-nowhere District Attorney investigations into a coordinated effort to engineer the sale of the Orange County Fairgrounds to developers.
BY MEGHANN M. CUNIFF / STAFF WRITER
Published: Dec. 16, 2014 Updated: 11:00 p.m.
A longtime county administrator set to become Orange County’s temporary chief executive faces a legal review related to nearly $1 million worth of no-bid contracts issued by the county over the past five years.
By Steven Greenhut
Dec. 12, 2014
The arrest this week of two ex-cop private investigators — charged with felonies related to their alleged attempt to frame a Costa Mesa city councilman for a false DUI — is about more than the disturbing tactics of two hired guns. It offers insight into the way some police unions across California intimidate political opponents into silence.
Posted: Thursday, December 11, 2014 1:11 pm | Updated: 7:59 pm, Thu Dec 11, 2014.
By ADAM ELMAHREK
The Orange County District Attorney’s office Thursday charged two private investigators with multiple felonies related to their alleged efforts to trap two Costa Mesa City Council members in embarrassing or illegal acts, according to a DA news release.
BY SALVADOR HERNANDEZ / STAFF WRITER
Published: Dec. 8, 2014 Updated: 9:49 p.m.
Hundreds of Orange County deputies and investigators will grade their bosses at the Sheriff’s Department and District Attorney’s Offices, then publicly share those opinions in the union’s monthly newsletter.
By NORBERTO SANTANA JR.
Posted: Tuesday, December 2, 2014 6:00 am | Updated: 9:38 am, Thu Dec 4, 2014.
District Attorney Tony Rackauckas has once again cleared the Orange County Fair Board’s former Republican majority of any criminal wrongdoing relating to their efforts in 2009 to privatize the 163-acre fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.
O.C. Sheriff Sandra Hutchens
BY TONY SAAVEDRA / STAFF WRITER
Published: Dec. 5, 2014 Updated: 8:44 p.m.
Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens this week joined the county’s top prosecutor in defending the use of jailhouse informants placed in cells wired to capture recorded confessions.
Posted: Wednesday, December 3, 2014 6:00 am | Updated: 10:06 am, Wed Dec 3, 2014.
By NORBERTO SANTANA JR.
As the 20th anniversary of Orange County’s municipal bankruptcy approaches, county supervisors are on the verge of reversing the centerpiece reform that emerged from the $1.5-billion financial disaster.
BY MARTIN WISCKOL AND KEEGAN KYLE / STAFF WRITERS
Published: Nov. 17, 2014 Updated: Nov. 18, 2014 6:55 a.m.
Orange County continued its trend toward an electorate that looks more like the rest of the Democratic state when it supported Proposition 47 – which reduces some non-violent felonies to misdemeanors – with 53 percent of the vote.
BY KELLIE MEJDRICH / STAFF WRITER
Published: Sept. 30, 2014 Updated: Oct. 1, 2014 6:40 a.m.
Orange County supervisors Tuesday approved increasing the number of passengers allowed at John Wayne Airport by 9.2 percent within six years and permitting 10 more flights a day.
Posted: Tuesday, September 16, 2014 8:35 pm | Updated: 8:02 am, Wed Sep 17, 2014.
By NICK GERDA
The County Board of Supervisors Tuesday rejected, for the second time since last year, a grand jury proposal for stronger ethics oversight of county government.
BY SEAN EMERY and TONY SAAVEDRA / STAFF WRITERS
Published: Sept. 9, 2014 Updated: 10:05 p.m.
Prosecutors charged Orange County Assessor Webster J. Guillory on Tuesday with filing false nomination papers, alleging that during his re-election bid, he claimed to have personally collected signatures on petitions that were circulated by an associate.
Saturday, August 23, 2014 – 10:30 a.m.
From political/campaign consultant to water consultant! Really?
The political blogs down in the O.C. are buzzing this week over the new candidacy of campaign consultant Dave Ellis.
By TERI SFORZA / STAFF COLUMNIST
Published: Aug. 3, 2014 Updated: 6:20 p.m.
Public investment types may be rubbing their hands together muttering, “money, money, money,” after stellar returns over the past year, but some have a lot more to crow about than others.
By TERI SFORZA / STAFF COLUMNIST
Published: July 5, 2014 Updated: July 6, 2014 8:45 a.m.
So let’s start with the bracing news: Orange County cities have promised their workers more than $3.3 billion in retirement benefits that they do not have.
BY KEEGAN KYLE / STAFF WRITER
Published: June 28, 2014 Updated: June 30, 2014 10:58 a.m.
California’s system for tracking deadly police shootings is plagued by confusion and inadequate oversight, further clouding public knowledge of an officer’s greatest power.
BY MARTIN WISCKOL / STAFF WRITER
Published: May 30, 2014 Updated: 7:12 p.m.
Republicans once touted Orange County as “America’s Most Republican County” and the area was known nationwide as a GOP stronghold and fundraising Mecca.
BY SCOTT MARTINDALE / STAFF WRITER
Published: May 28, 2014 Updated: 7:19 p.m.
COSTA MESA – A former state lawmaker accused of improperly lobbying for the 2009 sale of the Orange County fairgrounds has been exonerated of wrongdoing, the latest development in an ongoing criminal probe of the failed sales effort.
Posted: Monday, March 10, 2014 12:08 pm | Updated: 7:39 am, Tue Mar 11, 2014.
By NICK GERDA
Orange County transportation officials fired their Sacramento lobbying firm Monday in the wake of a massive fine against the firm for giving illegal gifts to state lawmakers.
BY MARTIN WISCKOL
STAFF COLUMNIST
Published: March 7, 2014 Updated: March 8, 2014 7:52 a.m.
Over the years, the Orange County GOP has sometimes made it a point of pride to rally around an O.C. candidate in state Legislature districts that straddle county lines.
Not this time.
By Jill Cowan
March 3, 2014, 7:46 p.m.
Orange County has been deluged with more than 1,000 concealed weapons applications since rolling back restrictions in the wake of an appellate court ruling, and officials are preparing to hire more than a dozen retired deputies to handle the crush.
By Paloma Esquivel
February 27, 2014, 4:38 p.m.
Attorneys for the man charged with killing eight people in a Seal Beach salon three years ago have accused Orange County prosecutors and sheriff’s deputies of running an unconstitutional jailhouse informant operation that ensnared their client and other inmates.
BY MIKE REICHER / ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Published: Feb. 25, 2014 Updated: 9:36 p.m.
Orange County’s chief operating officer, who was convicted of election fraud in the 1990s, was stripped this week of his position overseeing the county elections office.
BY DAVID MONTERO / STAFF WRITER
Published: Feb. 19, 2014 Updated: Feb. 20, 2014 1:59 p.m.
The Orange County sheriff loosened requirements Wednesday for obtaining a concealed-weapons permit in light of a recent federal appellate court decision that deemed many urban counties in California to be overly restrictive in saying who can and can’t carry a concealed weapon.