Subject: 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

• From Burned Boy to Burned Investor (Allegedly)

  KNBC/Channel 4 reports that 28-year-old Dave Dave--who when he was age 6 and known as David Rothenberg had 90 percent of his body burned after his father Charles Rothenberg doused him with kerosene in a Buena Park motel--is suing for fraud a man he met at Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch. In his lawsuit filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Dave alleges a man named Darnello Jackson and his fiance, Shanielle Gardner, tricked him into transferring ownership of a condominium in the 400 block

  May 22, 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

• 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'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

• OC Conservatives Have Something to Cheer!

  On Monday, Orange County conservative activists lost the fight to block liberal law scholar Erwin Chemerinsky from becoming the first UC Irvine law school dean. But this morning must feel better. The United States Attorney's Office based in Los Angeles announced that it has won a guilty plea from William S. Lerach, a plaintiff's lawyer who successfully sued corporate America in class-action lawsuits. Lerach, a 61-year-old Rancho Santa Fe resident and major campaign contributor to Democrats, now

  September 18, 2007

• 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

• DA Drops Charges Against Frank Santos, Who Was Accused of Pushing a Garden Grove Cop

  November 27, 2008

• Just How Did Those Gloves and That Gun End Up in Whistleblower Dr. Michael Fitzgibbons' Car?

  July 31, 2008

• Slammer Time!

  August 5, 2004

• The Gang's Not Here

  August 9, 2007

• Haidl Your Daughters

  May 6, 2004

• Litigating It Old-School

  Former Chapman instructors invoke a Civil War-era law in their multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the university

  August 2, 2007

• A Tale of Two Shootings

  August 7, 2003

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

  April 16, 2009

• Eight Is Enough

  One man has four girlfriends and eight children, all of whom live in separate houses within four miles of each other. In Utah? No, Irvine

  February 22, 2007

• 'Gay Panic'

  Three men go wilding; the gays made them do it
  

  January 18, 2007

• Baby-faced Hoodlums

  August 3, 2006

• 'Holy Crap! I Lost Louis Eugene Craft!'

  May 25, 2006

• Mozart an Idiot!

  January 12, 2006

• Dirty Money

  January 5, 2006

• There Once Was a Judge From Nantucket

  December 22, 2005

• Dr. Chaudhuri

  September 8, 2005

• Slapp-Happy

  February 24, 2005

• Sexcapades!

  February 10, 2005

• No Justice, No Peace of Mind

  January 20, 2005

• Six Degrees of Schwarzenegger

  October 7, 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

• Made in Newport Beach

  March 7, 2002

• Kevin Barry Artt

  September 14, 2000

• Shantae Molina is Innocent

  August 31, 2000

• Alien Toxins

  December 9, 1999

• [Moxley Confidential] Rackauckas Doesn't Blink

  May 14, 2009

• Orange's Barrio Cypress Residents Fought the DA's Gang Injunction—and Won (Sort Of)

  May 28, 2009

• DA Serves Permanent Injunction To Those Whose Cases The DA Had Dismissed

  The DA's office served a re-packaged permanent gang injunction this morning to dozens of people it has concluded are active gang participants in the Orange Varrio Cypress gang, including 62 individuals whose gang injunction cases the DA had already dismissed last month and who believed they were no longer subject to the injunction. (See our coverage here.)Lead assistant DA John Anderson in charge of gang injunctions says those dismissals only meant that the individuals would no longer have their

  June 11, 2009

• Laguna Beach Settles Lawsuit Over Homeless Ordinance

  Laguna Beach agreed today to settle a lawsuit over the city's treatment of disabled homeless people, according to the ACLU of Southern California.   "Under the agreement, the city's police officers will not cite, arrest or harass people under state law simply for sleeping in public places, as long as there are no reasonable public health or safety concerns," states a just-released media advisory from the civil rights group. "The agreement also establishes a process for sealing, expungi

  June 25, 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

• Racist OC Register Reader Fustercluck of the Week: "Stupid Asians!"

  So far, this column has focused on stories with headlines and subject matters--gangs in Santa Ana, white people voting more often than Latinos, Latina columnists being employed by the Register and daring to write sympathetic stories about immigrants--that are virtually guaranteed to attract racist comments. But as this week's installment makes clear, you never know what kind of a story will set off at least one nutjob with a keyboard. Even a column as seemingly non-racial and innocuous as Frank

  August 21, 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

• 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