Days after OC Weekly’s August revelation that ethical issues tied to jailhouse telephone surveillance by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) for two years had stalled the severe pending punishment of a defendant, prosecutors quietly gave a sweetheart deal rather than surrender subpoenaed records and undergo public hearings into potential law enforcement perjury. As a result […]
Todd Spitzer
Todd Spitzer’s New TV Ad Campaign Blasts DA Tony Rackauckas
Two months before November’s general election, Supervisor Todd Spitzer announced the launch of a “seven-figure” television advertising campaign in his effort to unseat 75-year-old Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas. Spitzer’s campaign highlighted one ad that focuses on the supervisor’s “work to keep kids out of crime and homeless off the streets.” A second ad […]
OC Needle Exchange: “I’m Todd Spitzer, and I’m Suing You”
On August 23, 2018, the Orange County Needle Exchange Program (OCNEP) held a town hall meeting in Anaheim to discuss its plan for a mobile needle exchange unit with the community. The event became a parade for political pandering when OC Supervisor Todd Spitzer, Costa Mesa Mayor Sandy Genis, and Anaheim mayoral candidate Harry Sidhu […]
DA Tony Rackauckas Continues Unethical Discovery Practices After Court Rebuke
Though in reality he was already well aware and supportive of the illegal conduct, Tony Rackauckas two years ago claimed his Orange County district attorney’s office (OCDA) finally discovered evidence–a Special Handling Log, to be precise—that proved sheriff’s deputies in the jails had run unconstitutional scams with informants targeting pre-trial defendants and then hid records […]
Crime Lab Director Says Too Busy to Search for Forensic Science Errors
Bruce Houlihan enjoys puzzles, but the Orange County Crime Lab director is purposely failing to solve one of the biggest riddles of his career: Why did his office quietly give conflicting, pro-prosecution, expert testimony in two cold-case, rape/murder trials? Houlihan met that question—pending at least since 2016, when the Weekly revealed the controversy—with palpable silence […]
California AG’s Protection of Dirty Cops Angers Murder Victim’s Husband
In his campaign to expose Orange County law enforcement corruption, Paul Wilson—who lost his wife in the area’s worse, senseless mass murder in 2011—published a recent editorial pressuring an oddly resistant California Attorney Xavier Becerra into holding dirty cops accountable. A superior court judge found that multiple Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) deputies repeatedly lied […]
County Supervisor Todd Spitzer Blasts Probation Department Over “Offensive Flyer”
Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who wants to be your next district attorney, is seeking an apology from the chief of the Orange County Probation Department for “an offensive flyer announcing the job transfer of a director that depicts Santa Ana as a gang haven.” The flyer announces a May 10 going-away party for Division […]
Supervisor Todd Spitzer and Other Leaders Organize Active Shooter Response Forum
While announcing an active school shooter response forum it is sponsoring, the County of Orange warns parents that mature subject matter will be addressed so discretion is advised when it comes to bringing along students. Then again, it is the enlightened students of Parkland, Florida, who are teaching adults a thing or three about this […]
Federal Judge Clears the Way for Santa Ana Riverbed Evictions to Continue
U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter sat at a fold-up table this morning during a court hearing held in the parking lot of the Honda Center. Just across the way, the fate of the last remnants of a homeless encampment alongside the Santa Ana Riverbed awaited his decision. Lawsuits filed on behalf of several […]
Supervisor Todd Spitzer Courts DA Tony Rackauckas’ Staff in 2018 Election Bid
Saying it’s time to end the 18-year, controversy-prone era of Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, 2018 election challenger Todd Spitzer issued a Wednesday letter assuring DA staffers he respects their public service and will restore honest management of the agency if he wins. “Under [Rackauckas’] leadership, the office has been mired in scandal after […]
District Attorney Tony Rackauckas Picks Watchdog With Troubling Ties
There’s no doubt Stephen G. Larson—the man District Attorney Tony Rackauckas picked last year as the part-time, $300,000 watchdog of his agency in the ongoing Orange County jailhouse-informant scandal—is brilliant and possesses an impressive résumé. Larson ran the organized-crime section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, taught constitutional law as an adjunct college […]
Is the DA's Office Race a One-Man Show?
Given that the district attorney's job is the most powerful public office in Orange County, a place with a population greater than about 20 U.S. states, you might guess the competition for the elected position would be fierce. Police and deputies can arrest anyone they want, but the DA decides who gets prosecuted and who […]
Tony Rackauckas Apologies To OC Republicans For Helping Democrat Larry Agran's Campaign
Nearly three weeks after he made a shocking election eve robocall to support Democrat Larry Agran's mayoral campaign in Irvine, District Attorney Tony Rackauckas apologized to his fellow Orange County Republicans at a Nov. 19 GOP central committee meeting. “I didn't want Larry Agran to win,” said Rackauckas. “And I'm glad that he didn't.” The […]
Canyonites Gear Up for Legal Fight Over Board of Supervisors' Approval of 65 New Homes
Stymied in their efforts to get the Orange County Board of Supervisors to reject a 65-home project into the rural canyons just northwest of Cook's Corner, canyonites are turning to the last place they can think of to stop what they believe to be a forever quality-of-life-changing development: The courts. ] See also: The Norbertine […]
Tony Rackauckas Wants His Prosecutors To File More Public Corruption Cases
Hold your hat! Either Orange County flipped upside down in a cosmic miracle or a sudden gust of hurricane force wind tossed District Attorney Tony Rackauckas on his head and gave him amnesia. Rackauckas first ran for the county's top prosecutor job in 1998 while promising to shift agency resources away from launching public corruption […]
Dispatches From Anaheimistan
By the time July 29's protest at the Anaheim Police Department headquarters began at noon, everyone was ready. The television news vans—at least half a dozen of them—were lined up, their satellite dishes extended to the sky. Rows of uniformed officers sat atop horses, each one equipped with a clear-plastic riot visor. Behind the police […]
KFI's Bill Handel Is Coming To OC For Todd Spitzer's Campaign
You've got to give Todd Spitzer points for determination. The notoriously chatty Orange County supervisor candidate has done the impossible. He's found someone who may love to talk and talk and talk and talk more than he does: KFI's Bill Handel. And the unstoppable Spitzer bandwagon is bringing Handel to OC as the guest of […]
OCDA Bigwig William Feccia To Retire
Senior Assistant District Attorney Bill Feccia–one of the brainiest, longtime members of Tony Rackauckas' management team inside the Orange County District Attorney's office (OCDA)–is retiring this week. Except for the Todd Spitzer firing fiasco, it's the biggest OCDA personnel move since 2007, when then-second in command Chuck Middleton retired after winning three sexual assault convictions […]
Todd Spitzer To Give Keynote Speech At Chapman University Law Event
If you've never had the chance to hear Todd Spitzer give a speech, you can wipe that accomplishment off your bucket list later this month. Spitzer, the former high-ranking prosecutor and Republican state Assemblyman who will soon return to his old post as a county supervisor, is scheduled to give the keynote speech at Chapman […]
![[UPDATED, With DA's Clarification of Sentencing] Deborah Pauly's Drunken Night Out!](https://www.ocweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/6438267_deborah_pauly_thumb_250x310-249x180.jpg)
[UPDATED, With DA's Clarification of Sentencing] Deborah Pauly's Drunken Night Out!
UPDATE: The DA's office called us—deets at the bottom of this story! Original Post, Feb. 21, 8:30 P.M.: Villa Park councilwoman and Board of Supervisors candidate Deborah Pauly tries to pass herself off as some righteous Christian servant, but everyone knows that's a bunch of bullshit. Whether it's bashing Muslims, trashing Mexicans, supporting bigots, or […]
Letters From OC Weekly Readers
I HAVE A GREEN DREAMThis past month was a celebration of the prophet, the peace-maker and Nobel Award recipient Martin Luther King Jr. It was a commemoration of his great speeches and the advancements he accomplished in the name of civil rights [Nick Schou's “Collective Punishment,” Feb. 3]. It was a memorial to the man […]
