Jan. 05--A "failure of leadership" at the Orange County district attorney's office led to repeated problems with handling jailhouse informants and helped erode confidence in cases that rely on such evidence, according to a report made public Monday.
The findings, presented by a special committee of legal experts created by Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas, described the office as functioning "as a ship without a rudder" and said some of its prosecutors adopted a "win-at-all-costs mentality."
The committee said the office must improve oversight of cases and reform its culture to promote prosecutors who put justice ahead of legal victories.
Within the office, there is a "palpable hesitation to bring problematic information" to Rackauckas, who was unaware of "many of the problematic issues that led to the jailhouse informant controversy," the report said.
The report made 10 recommendations for the district attorney's office that include setting up a committee to oversee the handling of confidential informants, establishing a conviction integrity unit and appointing an independent monitor to oversee the proposed reforms.
The committee noted that it did not have the power to subpoena records or to compel witnesses to testify under oath. Rackauckas, the committee said, should at a minimum ask an investigative grand jury to conduct such an inquiry "to demonstrate transparency and foster confidence in the Orange County criminal justice system." The state attorney general or the U.S. Department of Justice could conduct the investigation, the committee said.
During a 90-minute news conference in Santa Ana, Rackauckas oscillated between contrite and dismissive as he responded to the report, promising to accept many of committee's findings while also seeming to downplay the scope of the informant scandal.
Flanked by most of his senior staff, Rackauckas said the agency had either instituted or planned to institute a number of reforms, including the creation of a chief ethics officer position, the appointment of an outside monitor to ensure his office complies with the report's recommendations and the creation of a panel to oversee the management of jailhouse informants and their use at trial. He also said that he will add an independent member to that panel, as suggested in the report.
But the district attorney also said that jailhouse informants are involved in only a small fraction of the number of felony cases prosecuted by his office each year. Informants were crucial to just a handful of the more than 8,000 felony cases last year, he said.
Rackauckas said no one had been disciplined as a result of the report or the controversy. He said he did not believe any of the prosecutors who failed to disclose information related to informants acted intentionally.
"You don't punish someone for making a mistake," he said.
In response to the committee's call for an independent investigation, Rackauckas released a two-page letter he said he was sending to U.S. Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch asking for an outside review.
"I am respectfully requesting and welcoming your office to conduct any review you deem appropriate," he wrote.
Pressed on the issue Monday, Rackauckas said that there was no "criminal conspiracy" within his office concerning informants but that he simply wanted to silence critics.
"There's really no reason for me to ask for an investigation except to satisfy the naysayers out there that there is nothing to investigate," he said.
Rackauckas said it "stings" to see the informant scandal described as a "failure of leadership" but dismissed the idea that the district attorney's office had been mismanaged during his tenure. Rackauckas said he had no plans to resign.
He also dismissed the idea that his trial attorneys had adopted a "win-at-all-costs" mentality. The agency, he said, promotes staff on a wide range of merits beyond trial victories.
"This is not a win-at-all-costs process," he said. "The duty of the district attorney's office is to do justice."
The committee of legal experts was created in July amid mounting criticism about the use of informants first exposed in the prosecution of Scott Dekraai, who killed eight people, including his ex-wife, in a 2011 mass shooting in Seal Beach.
In the case, prosecutors presented evidence that Dekraai made incriminating statements to the informant. A judge later disqualified the district attorney's office from the case, saying the agency failed to disclose evidence about the prolific serial informant. Secret jailhouse computer logs revealed he had been part of a scheme run with jailers to place informants near suspects.
Prosecutors and jailers said, in this case, it was a coincidence, but Dekraai's attorney insisted it was part of an operation to elicit incriminating remarks from defendants who were represented by lawyers, a violation of their rights under federal law.
The committee that examined the ongoing controversy included retired Orange County Superior Court Judge James Smith, former top L.A prosecutor Patrick Dixon, former Orange County Bar Assn. President Robert Gerard, and legal ethics expert Blithe Leece. Loyola law professor Laurie Levenson advised the committee on various ethics issues.
Among the committee's recommendations was that Rackauckas eliminate his chief of staff position and appoint an assistant district attorney in his media relations unit who would "develop a transparent and professional relationship with the press."
The report said that most members of the office who were interviewed believed that the jailhouse informant issue had been "greatly overblown because of a lack of transparency and the fact that the chief of staff and media relations unit did not immediately and openly address the issues and the problems in the Dekraai case."
There was "an overwhelming frustration that the OCDA's office does not have a more transparent and less hostile relationship with the press," the committee concluded.
Rackauckas dismissed the recommendation outright and shrugged off the suggestion that a toxic relationship between local reporters and his chief of staff helped exacerbate the scandal.
His chief of staff, Susan Kang Schroeder, also defended her handling of the media during the controversy.
"I think it's easy to blame me for bad press, but the media was going to write those stories regardless," she said in an interview after the news conference. "I've been a proponent for releasing more information, not less."
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