I have a confession to make. I do not like dangerous or violent
criminals, nor am I particularly fond of people who make excuses
for them, or work to turn them loose on our community so that they
can continue to sell drugs, steal from our homes, threaten the
police, hurt our children, kill our pets, or beat their wives or
girlfriends.
I have a confession to make. I do not like dangerous or violent criminals, nor am I particularly fond of people who make excuses for them, or work to turn them loose on our community so that they can continue to sell drugs, steal from our homes, threaten the police, hurt our children, kill our pets, or beat their wives or girlfriends.
That is one of the reasons why I chose to become a prosecutor.
I do believe in treating people fairly, however, when they are in the criminal justice system.
As a general rule, I do not try cases in the press, as I think it can lead to unfair trial results. Obviously, this rule is not followed by several local defense attorneys.
As you have read in this paper, the local criminal defense attorneys do not like me, nor are they happy with how I do my job. Of course, the defense attorneys who work so hard to turn criminals loose on your community have never adequately explained why I should care what they think. I care only about keeping this community as safe as possible.
The defense lawyers’ loudest complaint has been that they do not like the criminal grand jury. The grand jury is a group of 19 citizens of the county, randomly selected by the court, to hear evidence and decide if it is likely that someone committed a crime.
It is authorized by California and federal law, and is used widely throughout California and the United States.
I trust the citizens on the grand jury to make decisions that are supported by the evidence that they hear. Complaining that the previous administration in the District Attorney’s Office did not use grand juries makes about as much sense as complaining about the ability to get search warrants, or to subpoena witnesses.
The fact that the previous administration of the District Attorney’s Office did not use a grand jury is irrelevant. There are a lot of things Harry Damkar’s office failed to do.
For example, they failed to forward the various police and sheriff’s reports on their former investigator Dennis Stafford, to the Attorney General’s Office for an independent review. They failed to disclose the existence of those reports to defense counsel. They have utterly failed to explain why the District Attorney’s Office was the only law enforcement agency in the county that apparently did not know of the existence of the police reports. They failed to account for roughly 10 years worth of missing financial records from the bad check program. They failed to explain why they consistently had one of the lowest conviction rates in the region. They failed to charge gangsters with gang sentencing enhancements. They failed to explain why they had one of the lowest family support collection rates in the state. They failed to explain why only whites were given positions of responsibility in the office. They failed to explain why they charged the former county administrative officer and had him arrested in front of his 7-year-old daughter, to only slink into court later and declare him to be factually
innocent.
The fact that Mr. Damkar, his former Chief Deputy Greg La Forge, his hand-picked successor Arthur Cantu, or their civil attorney Bill Marder, the same person who is suing Ruth Kesler and the county for $5 million, do not want me in office is proof enough that I am doing a good job.
