OCDA Reacts To Grand Jury Report Decrying Jailhouse Informant Claims

SEAL BEACH, CA — On Tuesday, the Orange County Grand Jury released a 28-page report of their findings on the so-called "Snitch Scandal" that has rocked the Orange County Sheriff's Department and Orange County District Attorney's Office.

This, in answer to the 500-page-plus motion filed in early 2014 alleging widespread abuse of informants in the county jails to help prosecutors win cases. Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders, who filed the motion, is the attorney for Scott Dekraai, who pleaded guilty to eight counts of murder and one count of attempted murder for carrying out the worst mass killing in the county's history.

Reacting to the grand jury report, Sanders slammed the panel, saying its members appeared to be unaware of many cases of abuses involving informants within the jail. To conclude there is no systemic corruption is "insulting to Judge (Thomas) Goethals and to the Court of Appeal," Sanders told reporters.

"They simply did not know enough" about the jailhouse informant system, Sanders said.

Orange County District Attorney's Office has a different point of view regarding the report, entitled: The Myth of the Orange County Jailhouse Informant Program.

“The title of the report says it all," Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said. "On behalf of our prosecutors, district attorney investigators, and every hard working employee at the OCDA, I want to thank each of the members on the panel for their hard work and pursuit of the truth."

According to the District Attorney's Office in release, the OCGJ spent more than 3,500 hours seeking out and reviewing evidence, they read over 40,000 pages of documentation, of which the District Attorney's office provided more than 8,000 pages, listened to dozens of hours of informant tape recordings, and interviewed more than 150 people during their investigation into the criminal justice system in Orange County.

Read: Snitch-Gate Report Released By Grand Jury

"They issued a well-researched and fact-driven report in which each piece of evidence was triple-corroborated and reviewed by subject matter experts," Rackauckas said.

The controversy "was created by a public defender desperate to spare a mass-murderer the death penalty after the OCDA secured the guilty plea and, at a minimum, a sentence of life without the possibility of parole," Rackauckas said.

The media, despite being presented with the truth on multiple occasions by the OCDA, reported whatever the public defender said, which was then parroted by law professors and retired politicians without doing any investigation, the OCDA's office said.

Despite much-publicized challenges to the use of jailhouse informants in Orange County, there is no evidence of a "structured" snitch program in the jails, and allegations of collusion between prosecutors and sheriff's deputies to violate defendants' rights are "unfounded," the grand jury report said.

Read the full Grand Jury Report Here.

The Orange County Grand Jury found that while the use of in-custody informants does occur in some criminal cases, "it is generally organic in nature, case specific and does not represent a conspiracy between the Orange County Sheriff's Department and Orange County District Attorney's Office."

In the 28-page report, the grand jury conceded there have been "discovery violations in a small number of cases" and there have been instances of "lax supervision" that has resulted in missteps by prosecutors and sheriff's deputies, leading to an "erosion of trust in the criminal justice system."

Despite those shortcomings, both the District Attorney's Office and sheriff's department "have implemented organizational changes to repair the damage."

"The grand jury found no definitive evidence of a structured jailhouse informant program operating in the Orange County jails," according to the report. "Allegations of intentional motivation by a corrupt District Attorney's Office and a conspiracy with a corrupt sheriff's department to violate citizens' constitutional rights are unfounded. Disparate facts have been woven together and a combination of conjecture and random events have been juxtaposed to create a tenuous narrative insinuating nefarious intent.

That narrative does not stand up to factual validation," according to the report.

The report notes that the use of jailhouse informants is not unique to Orange County, where the "use of informants mirrors that of jurisdictions across the nation." It also cited a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found the use of informants can be "a valuable tool in `society's defensive arsenal."'

The allegations snowballed as Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals ordered evidentiary hearings that led to the judge removing the District Attorney's Office from the case.

The state Attorney General's Office took over the case and is continuing to pursue the death penalty for Dekraai, who killed eight people inside and outside the Salon Meritage in Seal Beach in October 2011.

The allegations about misuse of jailhouse informants have also compelled prosecutors to cut deals with several other defendants, including one killer who was released from custody.

Goethals is presiding over a third round of evidentiary hearings to determine whether he should dismiss the death penalty as an option for Dekraai because of the county's failure to turn over evidence in the case.

The sheriff's department's public information officer, Lt. Lane Lagaret, is expected to resume testimony in the hearings on Tuesday. Goethals also wants Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens to testify in the case this month.

“The OCGJ made many very valuable suggestions and we look forward to reviewing and considering each for implementation. The OCDA intends to respond in writing as required within 60 days and will make our response available to the public,” Rackauckas said.

City News Service contributed to this report.

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