Subject: Criminal Sentencing and Punishment

• Haidl 6-6-6: Defense still victimizing the victim

  Briseno called it: the defendants' claims of remorse were indeed insincere. In the morning we heard the defendants and their supporters apologize to Jane Doe and her family. They offered help. They promised to change. They took responsibility. A few hours later, before sentencing the Haidl 3, Judge Briseno said he attributed the remorse to "self-pity" because they were so likely headed to prison. And indeed, when he sentenced the Haidl 3 to six years each in a state prison--plus lifetime registr

  March 10, 2006

• Little Hoover, Big Problem

  The Little Hoover Commission* (the bipartisan, independent state commission dedicated to "promoting economy, efficiency and improved service in the transaction of public business") has issued a new report on the state prison system, one that neatly dovetails with recent Blotter posts on sentencing and politics. And for such a nice bunch of technocrats, the Lil' Hooverites are using awfully tough language. Says the Times: In a blistering 84-page report, the nonpartisan Little Hoover Commission l

  January 26, 2007

• Over Spitzer's Objection, Gov Delays New Death Chamber

  You've got to wonder how state assemblyman Todd Spitzer--a former Orange County supervisor, prosecutor and LAPD reserve officer--tolerates continual Sacramento BS even within his own Republican Party. McClatchy news reported today that GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger--who oddly still enjoys The Terminator image--"personally asked" officials at San Quentin Prison to delay construction of a new death chamber that was set to premiere this May. Schwarzenegger's excuse? Spitzer--rightly frustrated

  April 20, 2007

• Stall in Montessori Killer/Rapist Sentencing

  Superior Court Judge William Froeberg had intended to announce punishment this morning for convicted Montessori killer/rapist Jonathan Phong Khanh Tran, 22. But Tran's mother switched defense lawyers and, through new counsel Al Stokke, asked for a five-month delay. Froeberg granted the request. The decision means that Tran continues living in the Orange County Jail, where family members can easily visit. A prison sentence could land him at, say, Pelican Bay State Prison near the California-Oreg

  May 11, 2007

• CA soon to spend more on prisons than education!

  According to an article today by James Sterngold in the San Francisco Chronicle, California will soon have the dubious honor of being the first state to spend more on prisons than higher education. Sterngold says that beginning in fiscal 2012-2013 the state will spend $15.4 billion annually on incarcerating prisoners—$100 million more a year than on colleges and universities. The story quotes Orange County Republican Assemblyman Todd Spitzer—a former reserve cop, prosecutor and cou

  May 21, 2007

• OC White Supremacist Killer Avoids Death Penalty

  Just before lunch today, the jury in the Michael Allan Lamb murder case announced itself "hopelessly deadlocked" on whether the Public Enemy Number One (PENI) Death Squad member deserved the death penalty. The vote was nearly tied after almost three days of deliberating. Six jurors wanted death; five wanted life in prison without the possibility of parole; and one person remained undecided. Lamb kept silent, but studied his fingernails after the decision. Throughout the three-month proceedin

  July 31, 2007

• DA Determined to Send White Supremacist Killer to Death Row

  Prosecutor Ebrahim Baytieh announced this morning he will try a second time to send convicted killer Michael Alan Lamb, 33, to San Quentin State Prison's notorious Death Row. An Orange County jury convicted the Public Enemy Number One (PENI) Death Squad hit man in July for the execution-style murder of a fellow gang member and the attempted murder of an undercover Anaheim police officer. After the penalty phase of the trial, the panel heard testimony about Lamb's vicious adult personality (fro

  August 21, 2007

• How Many Public Enemy Number One Death Squaders Can You Squeeze Onto Death Row?

  Billy Joe Johnson, Orange County's most infamous white supremacist and killer, inched closer this week to San Quentin State Prison's Death Row. Deputy District Attorney Ebrahim Baytieh charged Johnson (pictured) with the lying-in-wait 2002 murder of a fellow Public Enemy Number One (PENI) Death Squad member in Anaheim. In July, a jury convicted Michael Alan Lamb and Jacob Anthony Rump for the killing. But during the trial Johnson tried to save his friends from convictions by claiming he alone

  August 24, 2007

• You Can't Make This Shit Up

  I don't know why--probably just to make sure I'm not missing any important updates on the latest south county exit poll nobody cares about or to get my daily fix of aerial photographs of toll road construction--but I tend to visit OC Blog every day. Actually the real reason I go there is they occasionally link to one of my stories, often with a snarky aside. I digress. Fact is you never know what brilliant untold tales--written by genuinely dispassionate Republican Party operatives--you'll fi

  September 6, 2007

• PENI Gangster Won't See Freedom Again

  This afternoon Superior Court Judge William Froeberg sentenced convicted killer Jacob Rump, a 30-year-old Orange County gangster, to life in prison without the possibility of parole for a 2002 ambush murder in Anaheim. Details about the case involving Rump (pictured), who is a member of Public Enemy Number One (PENI) Death Squad, can be found here, here and here. Deputy District Attorney Ebrahim Baytieh also won a conviction against Rump's white supremacist cohort, 32-year-old Michael Allen La

  October 5, 2007

• Read Sheriff Carona's indictment here

  This morning, the Weekly stood with folks from the LAT, ABC7, NBC4 and other media outlets outside the Ronald Reagan Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, waiting with bated breath and loaded cameras for the man of the hour—Sheriff Michael S. Carona (R-Indicted)—to make his walk of shame. Alas, the indicted party pooper was a no-show, and everyone went home empty-camera'd. We'll be back tomorrow to see if His Indictedness will grace us with his indicted presence. Meanwhile, intrepid Weekly

  October 30, 2007

• Jail Deputies Officially Off the Hook for Bloodiest Jail Murder in County History

  At a press conference this afternoon at the District Attorney's headquarters in Santa Ana, DA Tony Rackauckas announced that a nine-month grand jury investigation by his agency failed to uncover any evidence to charge any Orange County Sheriff's Department personnel for the most bloody murder in the history of the county's jail system. Rackauckas had just finished a brief appearance at OC Superior Court Judge Thomas Borris' courtroom, where three inmates were charged with the Oct. 5, 2006 murde

  March 7, 2008

• OC Sheriff's officials call deputy in Jail Murder Probe "Lazy" and a "Bully"

  According to his colleagues and superiors, the deputy at the center of Orange County's bloodiest jailhouse murder—a man who claims he was watching television when two dozen inmates beat a suspected child molester to death just yards away—is “lazy” and showed a pattern of behavior described by his own department as that of a “bully.” While supposedly watching guard over the roughly 150 inmates in Theo Lacy's F-West Barracks, where John Chamberlain, a Mission Viejo software engineer a

  April 7, 2008

• Prison Dreams, Nocturnal Butterflies and 4th St.

  June 4, 2009

• Another Sheriff's Employee Who Tarnished Badge Leaves OCSD

  In light of the Orange County Register report on Sheriff's Deputy Kevin Taylor, the lead jailer at the center of inmate John Derek Chamberlain's October 2006 death by stomping, finally leaving OCSD, it's worth comparing his future with that of the killers many believe he egged on. The Weekly's Nick Schou took readers inside Theo Lacy Branch Jail after the incident and later blogged about grand jury documents showing the most bloody murder in the history of the county's jail system was the result

  February 10, 2009

• [Moxley Confidential] Police Pilots Say They Got the Pointer

  April 9, 2009

• Nurse Says Her Efforts to Improve the OC Jail's Women's Infirmary Have Broken Her, Haunt Her Dreams

  October 2, 2008

• [Moxley Confidential] DA Tony Rackauckas Joins the Battle Over Susan Atkins' Dying Wish

  July 10, 2008

• Another Witness Weighs In on the Jailhouse Beating of Ex-Kiss Guitarist Mark Leslie Norton

  July 10, 2008

• Is California's Original Three-Striker Innocent of the Car Theft That Sent Him Away for Life?

  July 3, 2008

• DA's Office Says Alleged Jail Beating of Former Kiss Guitarist Referred to Sheriff's Department

  June 19, 2008

• Theo Lacy Unmasked: Was Ex-Kiss Guitarist Mark St. John a Victim of Brutal Jailhouse Justice?

  April 17, 2008

• Jared Petrovich Admits His Role In the Killing of John Chamberlain. But Why Did He Target the Guy?

  April 3, 2008

• Walk Until They Don't Drop

  September 20, 2007

• Equal-Opportunity Psycho Crew

  August 28, 2003

• Dudes Gone Wild

  Three odd tales from Orange Countys domestic-violence files

  July 26, 2007

• !Ask a Mexican!

  'Theyre always little bit more rambunctious'

  June 14, 2007

• Badfella

  Buddhist temple role model led double life as a gangster

  April 19, 2007

• Blind Spot

  For OC jail inmate John Chamberlain, jailhouse justice served as judge, juryand executioner

  March 29, 2007

• The New Crips

  October 12, 2006

• No Class

  September 14, 2006

• Finding Jesus in the OC Jail

  April 6, 2006

• Welcome Home, Mr. Haidl

  March 30, 2006

• 'Hell, Yeah, I'm Angry'

  March 23, 2006

• Monster's Ball

  March 23, 2006

• No Juvie for Haidl 3

  October 20, 2005

• NOW Hes Sorry!

  September 22, 2005

• Gang-Rape Trio to Walk?

  July 21, 2005

• Shocking Development

  December 9, 2004

• Jailhouse Iraq

  May 13, 2004

• Good Cop, Bad Church

  February 19, 2004

• Open Big House

  November 13, 2003

• It's Andrew Thompson's Birthday, But He Isn't Celebrating

  ​Andrew Thompson was supposed to turn 26 today, but instead of the ritual blowing out of the candles his birthday was marked with the sentencing of the killer who stabbed him in the heart.

  October 9, 2009

• Want to Find Crime? Go to Church

  Here's lookin' at ya!Forget the barrios, Harbor Boulevard and potential marijuana fields of Cleveland National Forest. If Orange County law enforcement wants to find illegal activity, they should go to church. Insert your favorite Catholic Diocese of Orange reference here. Then, take a look at what's been going on at Compass Bible Church in Aliso Viejo and St. Joseph's Church in Placentia. Better yet, if its St. Joseph, look for blood stains in the parking lot.

  September 24, 2009

• Serial Child Molester Denied Parole, Could Be Free in 6 Months

  ​George Joseph England, the serial child molester R. Scott Moxley just wrote about, was denied parole Monday, but the 65-year-old could still taste freedom in six months.

  September 22, 2009

• Serial Pedophile Who Bought 5-Year-Old Vietnamese Sex Slave is Up For Parole

  England wants freedom but hasn't admitted his sick sex crimes​A convicted California serial pedophile who despises Jews, cops and African Americans and who forced a kindergarten-age girl he purchased in Vietnam to become a sex slave to not only himself but also his German shepherd and basset hound, both males, becomes eligible for parole in December. George Joseph England--a self-proclaimed Christian who remains unrepentant, according to law enforcement sources--is scheduled to make his pitch

  September 18, 2009

• Crime Time: Rapers! Robbers! Wife Killer! Bad Cops! And a Real Bozo!

  It's the Weekly's weekly round-up of local police calls--a day late and many dollars short of paying off the creditors who won't stop calling! Top photos courtesy of Huntington Beach Police Department A BOZO NO-NO: Here's the original suspect description Crime Time received for the Oct. 5 robbery of the US Bank inside the Ralphs supermarket at Adams and Brookhurst streets in Huntington Beach: white, in his 30s, weighing 200 pounds with a stocky build and wearing a blue shirt and jea

  October 21, 2009

• Man Convicted in 1991 Cinco De Mayo Killing

  ​Talk about a party wrecker. This just came in from the DA:A man was convicted today of murdering a family friend on Cinco de Mayo in 1991 by shooting him in the face. Jesus Guillermo Batiz Rosales, 69, Santa Ana, was convicted of one felony count of murder and the sentencing enhancement allegation for the personal use of a firearm was found true.  Rosales faces a maximum sentence of 30 years to life in state prison at his sentencing on Dec. 11, 2009, at 9:00 a.m. in Department C-30, Cent

  October 23, 2009

• OC Serial Killer Gets His New Home Wish: Death Row

  Billy Joe Johnson says drugs blocked his dreams​On the day he didn't bother to spike his Mohawk (with jailhouse soap) or tuck in his white button down shirt, Costa Mesa serial killer Billy Joe Johnson received the death penalty recommendation from a somber jury of eight men and four women. Johnson accepted the outcome of the hearing, which took less than six minutes, with the same aplomb he's exhibited during the month-long proceedings. The white supremacist gang member of Public Enemy Number

  October 29, 2009

• Crime Time: Double the Fun Starring [Alleged] Skeevy Teachers, Fake Cop Robbers and Ryan Seacrest's Strange Stalker

  It's the Weekly's weekly round-up of local police calls--actually the Weekly's TWO weekly round-up as an attempt is made to make up for lost vacation time.Left courtesy of E! Entertainment, right courtesy of Orange Police DepartmentRyan Seacrest (left) gets paid another visit from his No. 1 Army special forces fan, Chidi Benjamin Uzomah Jr.​SEACREST OUT, UZOMAH BACK IN Remember Chidi Benjamin Uzomah Jr., the 25-year-old Lakewood resident who pleaded guilty last month in Orange County Superior

  November 4, 2009