antiquie

antiquie's Journal

May 30, 2015

Judge disqualifies all 250 prosecutors in Orange County; widespread corruption

On October 12, 2011, Orange County experienced the deadliest mass killing in its modern history. Scott Dekraai killed 8 people, including his ex-wife, in a Seal Beach beauty salon. He was arrested wearing full body armor just a few blocks away. Without a doubt, Dekraai was the perpetrator. A dozen surviving witnesses saw him. He admitted to the shooting early on. Yet, nearly four years later, the case against him has all but fallen apart.

It turns out that prosecutors and police officers committed an egregious violation of Dekraai's rights—so much so that Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals shocked everyone and removed the Orange County District Attorney's Office, and all 250 prosecutors, from having anything more to do with the case.

It turns out that Orange County has a secret system of evidence manufacturing and storage that they have used in countless cases, and the collusion is unraveling dozens of cases and may soon unravel the careers of countless prosecutors and law enforcement officers who've maintained it for decades. It's called TRED.

In recent months, we've learned, over the objections of the Orange County Sheriff's Department (OCSD), that the agency created TRED, a computerized records system in which deputies store information about in-custody defendants, including informants. Some of the data is trivial; other pieces contain vital, exculpatory evidence. But for a quarter of a century, OCSD management deemed TRED beyond the reach of any outside authority. In Dekraai, deputies Ben Garcia and Seth Tunstall committed perjury to hide the mere existence of TRED. Those lies didn't originate from blind loyalty, however. The concealed records show how prosecution teams slyly trampled the constitutional rights of defendants by employing informants—and then keeping clueless judges, juries and defense lawyers.

Government helps some kids, but...

Census Bureau: California still has highest U.S. poverty rate

25 Percent Of People In Mississippi Can't Afford Food

Measuring Access to Opportunity
The Supplemental Poverty Measure gauges the effectiveness of government programs in alleviating economic hardship. In a new data snapshot that explores the measure, KIDS COUNT calculates the national child poverty rate with and without government interventions. The supplemental measure shows that 11.2 million more kids would be living in poverty without key safety-net programs.

May 8, 2015

House CA-25: elected Waterboard member Gutzeit in to challenge Steve Knight

Democrats have landed their first potentially legit candidate to challenge freshman GOP Rep. Steve Knight, Santa Clarita water board member Maria Gutzeit, who announced a bid on Thursday. Gutzeit had reportedly spoken with the DCCC last month, and she actually has experience winning office (the water board is an elected body), which is not insignificant given how thin the Democratic bench is around these parts.

Knight's also a pitiful fundraiser, and since Mitt Romney only carried this blue-trending district by 2 points, it's possible Gutzeit could put it in play. But last year, Democrats were shut out of the general election because poor primary turnout allowed Knight and another Republican to move on to November. There's a risk this could happen again, particularly if other Democrats pile into the race, so if Gutzeit winds up being the favorite, she'll have to work hard to make sure she performs well enough in the primary.

The Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest is compiled by David Nir and Jeff Singer, with additional contributions from David Jarman, Steve Singiser, Daniel Donner, and Taniel. via email

GOTV!

May 5, 2015

CA Assembly Votes to Stop Denying MMJ Patients Organ Transplants

Assembly members have passed legislation, AB 258, to allow medical marijuana patients to receive organ transplants. The measure now awaits action from the Senate.

Hospitals frequently deny patients from receiving organ transplants solely based on their status as medicinal marijuana consumers. Assembly Bill 258 reads, "A hospital, physician and surgeon, procurement organization, or other person shall not determine the ultimate recipient of an anatomical gift based solely upon a potential recipient's status as a qualified patient, as defined in Section 711362.7, or based solely upon a positive test for the use of medical marijuana by a potential recipient who is a qualified patient."

Passage of AB 258 ends discriminatory practices facing medical marijuana patients.

Please visit NORML's 'Take Action Center' to contact your state senator and urge him/her to support this pending legislation.

For more information please visit California NORML.

Sincerely,
The NORML Team

via email

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Hometown: Southern California
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Member since: Tue Jun 7, 2011, 03:02 PM
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