Including a Criminal Justice page here wasn’t an easy decision to make. I thought it would be difficult, even on just a weekly basis, to find news articles or videos interesting enough to include or write about. A few months after President Donald Trump’s re-election I started following the news. Well, I was wrong. On just about every single day, there were provocative, interesting, if not astonishing national and international news articles and media coverage that were clearly worthy of serious comment and discussion. It would be extremely difficult, however, regardless of which issues were involved, to stay objective and to avoid any comments being political or controversial. I decided it would be wise to stick with Orange County and Southern California criminal justice issues and news.
Was Spitzer an improvement over Rackauckas?
A lot has transpired since I retired from the Orange County District Attorney’s Office in 2006. After Todd Spitzer dethroned District Attorney Tony Rackauckas in his bid for re-election in 2018, many people thought Spitzer would be an improvement over Rackauckas. They were wrong. Under Spitzer’s reign, serious felony criminal cases have been compromised as a result of his actions and those of his selected management team. Because of substandard supervision and training, rampant favoritism, and low morale, over 100 deputies (out of 250) have left the office early. In June 2025, the highest ranking senior female deputy in the Office won an unprecedented three-million-dollar jury verdict plus $25,000 in punitive damages in a lawsuit over Spitzer’s continuous sexual harassment of her personally and retaliation against her for defending other victims. There’s more to come: A similar fifteen-million-dollar lawsuit was filed against Spitzer and the County in late September 2025, joining a number of previously filed cases lining up for trial.
