Subject: Criminal Trials

• LA Times v the Weekly on Haidl Rape Plea

  If there ever was any doubt that LA Times columnist Dana Parsons is the laziest, most misinformed journalist in the Haidl Gang Rape saga, consider his new column. In the past, he's blamed OC District Attorney Tony Rackauckas (not the rapists or their lawyers) for torturing Jane Doe, the victim. He's alleged that the DA never considered a plea deal that would have saved Doe from testifying at the second trial. He's claimed prison would not be an appropriate punishment for the rapists and later, a

  March 19, 2006

• Hypocrites Unite!

  As everyone surely now knows, The Drudge Report has solved the Mark Foley mystery. As you know, Republicans are all about taking responsibility for one's actions. As they demonstrate here, they are indeed taking responsibility--for having an innocent "prank" about pedophilia (nice sense of humor, guys) fall into the hands of evil Democrats (oxymoron?). We just just picture Bill and Hill and Monica, hunched over the computer, copying, pasting and sending Foley's prank out to the masses. XXXXX DRU

  October 5, 2006

• 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

• Thursday's Headlines & Surprises: OC Judge Slaps Guv

  Will a murder inmate defeat the Guv? Orange County Superior Court Judge Kazuharo Makino — a quiet, often-expressionless fellow who is married to a court reporter — ruled yesterday that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was wrong to deny parole to Delbert “Dale” Chrittenden. The inmate was found guilty of second-degree murder in 1988 and sentenced to 17 years to life in prison. In Makino's view, the Guv abused his discretion by ignoring Chrittenden's post-crime deeds as hailed by the often-

  August 16, 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

• DA's Office Loses A Big One

  For years, Brian N. Gurwitz skillfully tormented defense attorneys and their guilty clients, including Gregory Haidl (gang rape of a minor), former Superior Court Judge Ronald Kline (kiddie porn) and former Assistant Sheriff George Jaramillo (public corruption). Well, those days are nearly over. The senior prosecutor announced yesterday that he'll be leaving OC's district attorney's office. Next month, the Irvine resident will commute to the prestigious Los Angeles offices of Pillsbury Winthro

  August 22, 2007

• Men Get Hate Crime Charges for Vicious Beating of Illegal Immigrant Janitor

  Right about now three Southern California men probably wish that they'd just gone home after drinking booze at the Angels 9-6 loss to the Boston Red Sox on August 8. Or, perhaps, James Joseph Kelly, 26, Justin Louis Mullins, 23, and Cheyne Danica Wilson, 25, wish that the final event of their evening together had been getting more drunk and watching strippers wiggle inside Larry Flynt's Hustler Club in Westminster. Had they made either choice they wouldn't be facing the possibility of prison

  September 12, 2007

• (Alleged) High School Hacker Can't Get His Case Dismissed

  Happier Days: Tanvir Singh and Omar KhanLast year we told you about the Tesoro High School teen accused of not-so-cleverly trying to fudge his way into college by breaking into his school, hacking into teachers' computers, altering his and others students' grades, stealing tests and changing his AP exam results. Omar Khan, who was arrested days before graduation when a night custodian spotted him and an accomplice after they'd broken into the school, faced 38 years in jail if found guilty of the

  June 1, 2009

• California High Court Okays Prosecutor-Movie Director Deal

  California's Supreme Court yesterday reversed a lower court's finding that a Santa Barbara County prosecutor should have been disqualified in the sensational Jesse James Hollywood (pictured, upper left) murder trial after forming a partnership with a movie director. Veteran deputy district attorney Ronald Zonen confided in and loaned his official files to Nick Cassavetes in 2003 so that the filmmaker could write what eventually became Alpha Dog starring Justin Timberlake, Sharon Stone and Bruc

  May 13, 2008

• I, Cardenas

  February 17, 2000

• Wishful Adding

  January 8, 2004

• Ex-Owner of Santa Ana Abortion Clinic May Be Jail Bound

  LifeNews.com reports the owner of a chain of women's health clinics that caters primarily to Latinas - which until recently included Clinica Medica Para La Mujer at 120 W 5th St., Santa Ana, the site of an alleged assault by a physician on a pro-life photographer we blogged about in August - is likely headed to prison for up to 10 years.  Bertha Pinedo Bugarin, 48, (shown at left) pleaded no contest in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday to seven felony charges including pretending to be a

  December 5, 2008

• Ex-Sheriff Mike Carona Used All the Weapons In His Arsenal to Trick a Jury. He Still Lost

  January 22, 2009

• [Moxley Confidential] The DA's Office Reacts to a Naughty Episode of Prosecutorial Misconduct

  October 30, 2008

• The Mind of a Pedophile

  Two convicted child molesters get another stiff sentence for a crime they thought about committing

  October 18, 2007

• Teen Sex, Cash and Videotape

  January 8, 2004

• Slammer Time!

  August 5, 2004

• The Gang's Not Here

  August 9, 2007

• Haidl Your Daughters

  May 6, 2004

• A Tale of Two Shootings

  August 7, 2003

• [Moxley Confidential] OC Jury Doesn't Quite Acquit an OC Cop. Shocker!

  April 16, 2009

• 'Nicest Killer I've Ever Met'

  Jonathan Tran, 22, convicted in Montessori murder and teen prostitute rapes

  March 22, 2007

• Phu Fighter

  Gangster beats girl over sexual equipment quip

  February 1, 2007

• 'Gay Panic'

  Three men go wilding; the gays made them do it
  

  January 18, 2007

• Theyre My friends and Im a Swinger!

  OC businessman allegedly sold fake computers during the day, call girls at night

  January 11, 2007

• Baby-faced Hoodlums

  August 3, 2006

• 'People Would Go Crazy'

  March 9, 2006

• Dirty Money

  January 5, 2006

• There Once Was a Judge From Nantucket

  December 22, 2005

• The Killer Laughed

  Now hes likely to spend the rest of his life in prison for the beating death and robbery of a gay man

  December 1, 2005

• Gang-Rape Trio to Walk?

  July 21, 2005

• Loftus' Luster Lost

  February 17, 2005

• Sexcapades!

  February 10, 2005

• Hazardous Waist

  December 23, 2004

• Jaramillo Busted

  September 30, 2004

• Bottoms Up!

  June 24, 2004

• Hung Jury?

  June 24, 2004

• Bottoms Up!

  June 17, 2004

• Exhibit X-Rated

  November 20, 2003

• Exhibit X-Rated

  November 13, 2003

• Bad Rap, Vol. III

  June 28, 2001

• Shantae Molina is Innocent

  August 31, 2000

• [Moxley Confidential] Rackauckas Doesn't Blink

  May 14, 2009

• If Drunk Drivers Who Kill Face Murder Charges, Why Not Charge City Councilman With Attempted Murder?

  Watch CBS Videos Online Sunday night, 60 Minutes replayed "DWI: Was It Murder?" Reporter Bob Simon interviewed a prosecutor who pursues murder charges against drunken drivers whose traffic collisions result in deaths of people in the other vehicles. Nassau County, New York, district attorney Kathleen Rice's first successful prosecution against just such a drunken driver resulted in a second-degree murder conviction and sentence of 18 years to life in prison against a 24-year-old insurance salesm

  August 5, 2009

• Trabuco Canyon's Lila Rizk Guilty in Massive Real Estate Fraud

  ​A federal jury this afternoon convicted a licensed real estate appraiser from Trabuco Canyon of conspiracy, bank fraud and numerous loan fraud charges related to a massive mortgage fraud scheme that caused more than $40 million in losses to federally insured banks, the FBI announced.Lila Rizk, 42, had stood trial for five weeks alongside prominent Beverly Hills real estate agent Kyle Grasso,

  August 12, 2009

• Forty Years Later, the Clash Between the Black Panthers and Santa Ana P.D. Still Influences OC Life

  September 10, 2009

• Two Church Pastors Dogged By Charges of Sex Crimes With Teens

  ​Gustavo Arellano needs a stack of scorecards to keep up with the molestation misdeeds that have swirled around the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange County for years. Maybe he can loan us a blank one for this week's allegations involving non-Catholic clergy in OC.

  October 9, 2009

• [Moxley Confidential] Jury Tells 'The Signal' Attacker Steven Walter Robinson to Go to Hell

  October 15, 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

• 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