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Orange County’s top prosecutor and sheriff agreed to settle lawsuits from the federal department of justice that found prosecutors and deputy sheriffs regularly violated defendants’ civil rights in the county jail, ending a nearly decade-long investigation into their offices.
To read a copy of the DA’s settlement, click here. To read a copy of the sheriff’s settlement, click here.
The investigation focused on how prosecutors and deputies of the county sheriff’s department illegally used confidential informants at the jail between 2007 and 2016 to interrogate prisoners without their lawyers present and then covered it up, a violation of the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
While the misconduct that federal investigators found came before DA Todd Spitzer and Sheriff Don Barnes’ elections in 2018, both have spent years dealing with the fallout, including when a 2022 report from the Department of Justice found their departments violated the law.
[Read: Federal Investigators Call Out ‘Systematic’ Rights Violations in OC Jailhouse Informant Scandal]
“Upon taking office in January 2019, I began making immediate reforms, including adopting a new jailhouse informant manual that strictly governs the use of jailhouse informants,” Spitzer said in a statement Thursday. “The signing of this agreement marks a significant milestone.”
Barnes echoed similar praises of the sheriff’s own reforms in a separate statement, noting that federal prosecutors would continue to oversee the department for six more months.
“We are proud to set a standard for law enforcement agencies nationwide regarding the use of custodial informants,” Barnes wrote in a Friday statement. “Our extensive safeguards go above and beyond constitutional requirements and even exceed those found in the Federal Bureau of Prisons.”
That misconduct threw some of the county’s most high profile criminal convictions into jeopardy, including the murder prosecution of Scott Dekraii, who was convicted of killing eight people in a mass shooting in Seal Beach but could not be given the death penalty due to misconduct.
[Read: Dekraai Sentenced to 8 Consecutive Life Terms in State Prison]
The District Attorney’s settlement requires that county investigators continue to avoid using confidential informants without Spitzer’s express sign off, a rule Spitzer implemented, and to continue training on how they’re supposed to be used that will be reviewed and required by the federal Department of Justice.
The sheriff’s settlement includes requirements for officers to receive training on how and when to use jailhouse informants, and requires extensive documentation of any custodial informant’s whereabouts in the jail and how they’re used moving forward.
Scott Sanders, assistant Orange County Public defender and Dekraii’s attorney, said that while the investigation helped bring new cases to light, the work is only just beginning.
“We’re entering year 11 of one of the biggest criminal justice scandals in US history,” Sanders said in a Thursday interview. “I’m more convinced about that than ever.”
He highlighted how the DA will also be required to complete a “comprehensive historical review to identify and review prior investigations and prosecutions including custodial informants,” according to the settlement, potentially highlighting new cases of misconduct.
But Sanders argues that doesn’t go far enough, and that there needs to be either a public or privately funded effort to ensure that convicted defendants whose rights were violated have their day in court with that information.
“Right now, we do not have a privately or publicly funded mechanism for achieving justice for far too many inmates,” Sanders said. “This is important what they’re doing, but if I’m an accused person in a state prison looking from afar, I’m asking myself when is it going to be my time?”
“If part of that conviction is rooted in misconduct we need that information now,” he continued. “It’s a question of will, and financing that will.”
Martin Schwarz, the Orange County Public Defender, agreed with him in a statement to Voice of OC.
“My hope is that the agreements will amplify the need to look at these cases and right past wrongs,” Schwarz wrote on Tuesday. “While many will view these agreements as the end of the road, the work to remediate the wrongs caused by this misconduct is just beginning.”
Spitzer did not respond to follow-up questions about plans for that investigation.
“The rule of law must be followed without exception,” Spitzer wrote in his statement. “Today marks a significant achievement in restoring the public trust.”
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org
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