Allegations that Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer made racist comments while discussing a murder case exploded Wednesday when internal memos from his office were leaked to the media. However, a Jan. 30 document written by Spitzer and released by his office within hours of the leak contend he was misquoted and taken out of context.

The furor is partially centered around memos written by former Senior Assistant District Attorney Ebrahim Baytieh concerning an Oct. 1 meeting to discuss whether to seek the death penalty in the case of a Black man accused of killing a White couple in Newport Beach. According to Baytieh’s Dec. 3 memo, the group discussed defendant Jamon Buggs‘ record of domestic violence. Spitzer inquired about the race of Buggs’ previous girlfriends.

According to Baytieh’s memo, he and prosecutor Eric Scarbrough told Spitzer the question was irrelevant and inappropriate to consider in a discussion on the death penalty. The memo said Spitzer disagreed and “said he knows many black people who get themselves out of their bad circumstances and bad situations by only dating ‘white women.’ ” In a Dec. 21 correction later penned by Baytieh, he amended the line to say Spitzer “knows many black people who enhance their status by only dating ‘white women.’ “

The initial memo by Baytieh also alleged that Spitzer said he knew a Black student in college who dated only White women to get himself out of his “bad circumstances and situations.” That quote was later amended in an email by Baytieh to say Spitzer said he knew a Black student who dated only White women to “enhance his status.”

Spitzer defends comments

Spitzer defended himself in a memo given to the judge in the Buggs case that he was trying to determine the potential racial overtones and other mitigating factors. The female victim’s appearance was similar to that of Buggs’ estranged girlfriend.

“My questions were directly related to the entire question of identification or misidentification by Buggs. There was literally no other reason to bring race into the conversation except the facts of this case were that Buggs wanted to kill the man he believed was dating/sleeping with his former girlfriend — a White, blonde (haired) woman,” Spitzer said in his memo.

He added: “My questions about Buggs and … the race of former girlfriends was simply to address the issue of cross racial identification, the single biggest reason for murder convictions to be overturned. I simply was exploring Buggs’ ability to identify, properly or not, the race of the female victim in that moment before he executed two victims.”

Debate over who should be told

Baytieh’s memo contended that Spitzer’s comments should be turned over to Buggs’ defense attorney under the recent Racial Justice Act, which allows lawyers to challenge a conviction based on racial bias. Scarbrough and Assistant District Attorney Steve McGreevy — who are both running for judge in the June election — concluded the comments were “potentially discoverable.” McGreevy suggested they should be referred to the judge in the case under seal, according to Baytieh.

Spitzer disagreed and removed all nine people who were at the meeting — including himself — from handling the case and gave it to a new prosecutor, according to his memo to Judge Gregg Prickett. The discovery question was turned over to Prickett.

The furor over Spitzer’s comments comes a week after he fired Baytieh following the conclusion of an investigation into whether Baytieh withheld evidence in a 2010 murder case, causing the conviction to be overturned. Baytieh’s defenders say he actually was fired for being a whistleblower on “racist comments.”

Was extortion at play?

Spitzer said in an interview Wednesday that Baytieh knew the investigation into withheld evidence did not look good for him, and was “extorting” the district attorney to not fire him.

“This was an act of pure desperation by a prosecutor who knew had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar and was willing to do anything to protect himself, even fabricating facts to embarrass the district attorney,” Spitzer said in a prepared statement.

“The prosecutor knew he was under investigation for failing to properly disclose evidence and every day that went by was another day closer to investigators finding out the entire truth,” he wrote.

Election challenger urges resignation

The racially charged comments drew swift response from one of Spitzer’s challengers in the June 7 primary for the district attorney’s seat.

Democratic opponent Pete Hardin, as well as local Democratic Party chair Ada Briceno, called for Spitzer to immediately resign.

“Todd Spitzer’s consideration of race while deciding whether or not California should execute a black man isn’t just appalling, it’s disqualifying,” said former Marine Judge Advocate Hardin. “Our system of justice must be colorblind, and the chief law enforcement officer just showed himself to be anything but.”

Hardin added: ““The implication of these racist remarks extends far beyond the instant case. The elected District Attorney has now shown himself to be a racist, and to ensure the fair administration of justice the Attorney General should investigate how the bigotry of Orange County’s top law enforcement official has impacted other cases involving people of color.”

The contested statements came during a meeting of the office’s special circumstances committee. In addition to Spitzer, Scarbrough, McGreevy and Baytieh, present were Chief Assistant District Attorney Shawn Nelson, Special Counsel Pat Dixon, Assistant District Attorney Keith Bogardus, Assistant District Attorney Troy Pino and Assistant District Attorney Jason Baez.

Domestic dispute

After the discussions, Spitzer concluded his office would not seek the death penalty against Buggs, charged in the April 2019  killing of 48-year-old Wendi Miller, a local activist, and 38-year-old Darren Partch, a former pro hockey player.

Buggs, a personal trainer from Huntington Beach, was arrested several days after a roommate discovered the bodies at Partch’s residence in the 2100 block of East 15th Street in Newport Beach. When he was charged, Buggs already was behind bars in connection with a seemingly unrelated violent attempted burglary that apparently occurred after the slayings.

At the time of the killings, Buggs was in a legal battle with an ex-girlfriend. In a request for a restraining order, the ex-girlfriend accused Buggs of threatening her and breaking into her home at least twice. Buggs responded in his own court filing by accusing the ex-girlfriend of striking him and calling him a racial slur.