Anyone who believes law-enforcement agencies can be trusted to reform themselves hasn’t been paying attention to the long-simmering Orange County snitch scandal. Allegations emerged nearly a decade ago that prosecutors and deputies systematically misused jailhouse informants by illegally securing confessions from criminal defendants without their attorneys present – in clear violation of their constitutional rights.
The feds released a damning report a year ago, concluding that the scandal “continues to undermine public confidence” in the county’s criminal-justice system and slamming the sheriff’s department and district attorney’s office for implementing insufficient remedial measures. The public defender revealed the scandal unraveled 57 criminal cases, leading to 16 murder cases where the defendant ended up receiving vastly reduced sentences because of official malfeasance.
Such disturbing information should have led to immediate and thorough reforms – and to a transparent process that kept Orange County residents informed about the details. Instead, we have no idea whether local officials have implemented the feds’ 23 suggested reforms.
The Orange County Register’s Tony Saavedra reported this month that local officials are “keeping mum, making it difficult for the public to determine what, if anything, they are doing to implement recommendations from the U.S. Department of Justice.” Essentially, Sheriff Don Barnes and District Attorney Todd Spitzer are telling us to just trust them.
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The DA’s office says it would like to share the story but can’t because of the confidential nature of the investigation. That’s nonsense. The federal motion is public information – all 424 pages of it. The departments can – and should, under state public-information laws – provide the reform blueprint. They can do so without revealing confidential details.
Is it us, or should a scandal of this magnitude have resulted in something more than vague assurances after a decade of investigations and news reports? Had it not been for a dogged public defender, we wonder how much of any of this malfeasance would even have come to light.
It’s time for these powerful offices to chapter and verse their reforms so the Orange County public can regain trust in its criminal-justice system.