A former high-profile prosecutor turned outspoken critic of Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer alleged in a court filing Friday that Spitzer lied to a judge in a capital murder case in an attempt to cover up racially charged comments.

Citing internal emails from the DA’s office, attorney Matt Murphy accused Spitzer of reversing a decision to seek the death penalty in a double-murder case to prevent defense attorneys or the public from learning of racial comments Spitzer made about the defendant while discussing the case with prosecutors and supervisors.

The filing by Murphy is connected to the double-murder case against Jamon Buggs, a Black man accused of killing a White couple in Newport Beach. Last week, leaked memos written by former Senior Assistant District Attorney Ebrahim Baytieh outlined alleged comments made by Spitzer during an Oct. 1 meeting about whether to seek the death penalty in the case.

“The motive for Mr. Spitzer’s lie is obvious: to try to convince the court that the racially-charged statements set forth in Baytieh’s narrative were much ado about nothing, instead of what every experienced capital litigator can see that it represents – a blunder of immense magnitude and a shameful expression of racial bias in a setting of such solemnity and importance, that Mr. Spitzer reversed his position on seeking the death penalty for the sole purpose of keeping the issue hidden from Mr. Buggs’ defense team and the public,” Murphy wrote.

The DA’s office declined to comment on the motion filed by Murphy, saying they hadn’t seen it and wouldn’t comment on the case pending litigation. Murphy – who initially filed the criminal charges against Buggs before leaving the DA’s office – could not be reached for further comment.

Since leaving the DA’s office, Murphy has emerged as a high-profile critic of Spitzer, most recently representing women who are suing the county, alleging retaliation after they reported sexual harassment within the DA’s office.

Spitzer previously indicated that he opted not to pursue the death penalty against Buggs because Buggs suffered chronic traumatic encephalopathy while playing high school football and was the target of racism while going to predominantly white schools.

But, in an Oct. 28 email to Baytieh included in Murphy’s filing, Spitzer wrote, “I have made the decision to seek DP” after being asked a question by Baytieh regarding the timing of when they would inform a judge about their death penalty decision.

Murphy wrote that the email contradicts a claim Spitzer made to a judge in a recent memo that the only decision he made after the Oct. 1 meeting was to seek life without the possibility of parole in the Buggs case rather than the death penalty.

Also, Murphy contended that the emails contradict Spitzer’s claim that no one expressed concern to him about the racial comments until 90 days after the Buggs’ meeting, writing that the emails reference an apparent conversation Baytieh had with Spitzer about the Racial Justice Act, which deals with “legal remedies in the event that a prosecutor exhibits racial bias toward a defendant.”

Murphy wrote in the filing that he has “come into possession of the emails” while preparing for litigation against another unnamed member of the California State Bar and describes them as revealing “what I believe to be a fraud recently perpetrated upon this court.” The filing was submitted to Orange County Superior Court Judge Gregg L. Prickett, who is presiding over the Buggs case.

According to the previously released Baytieh memos, Spitzer during the meeting about the Buggs’ case inquired about the race of Buggs’ previous girlfriends and said he “knows many Black people who enhance their status by only dating ‘White women.’ “

Spitzer has said he had been trying to determine the potential racial overtones of the case, but in a statement earlier this week acknowledged that he had “used an example that was insensitive,” and described his comments as “inartful.”

In his memo to the judge, Spitzer indicated that he made the decision to remove everyone who was in the room when he made the racial comments – including himself – from the case and assigned it to a new prosecutor.

Baytieh was fired by Spitzer a week before the racial comments were made public. Baytieh was let go after an investigation into whether he withheld evidence in an unrelated murder case, resulting in a conviction being overturned. But Baytieh’s defenders say he was fired for being a whistleblower regarding the racial comments by Spitzer.

Since the comments were made public, Spitzer has come under fire from the California and Hawaii chapter of the NAACP and some other district attorneys have withdrawn their endorsement of his re-election.

See also:

Newport Beach police feared ‘cover-up’ by DA Todd Spitzer, letter to judge shows

Mother of homicide victim blasts OC DA Todd Spitzer on death penalty decision

2 Black leaders back DA Todd Spitzer following alleged racially charged remarks

Related Articles