DA Todd Spitzer’s racist comments send the OC legal community into protest – Orange County Register

Charges that Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer made racist comments while discussing a murder case erupted Wednesday when internal memos from his office were leaked. leak to the media. However, a January 30 document written by Spitzer and released by his office within hours of being leaked alleges that he was misquoted and taken out of context.

The ruling hinged in part on memos written by former Assistant District Attorney Ebrahim Baytieh regarding an October 1 meeting to discuss whether to seek the death penalty in the case of a man Black man accused of murdering a white couple in Newport Beach. According to Baytieh’s December 3 memo, the group discussed the defendant Jamon Buggs‘record of domestic violence. Spitzer asks about the race of Buggs’ previous girlfriends.

According to Baytieh’s memo, he and prosecutor Eric Scarbrough told Spitzer that the question was irrelevant and inappropriate for consideration in a discussion about the death penalty. The memo said Spitzer disagreed and “stated that he knew many black people who got out of their bad situations and bad situations by only dating ‘white women.’ In a subsequent December 21 correction written by Baytieh, he modified the text to say that Spitzer “knew many blacks raised their status by only dating ‘white women. .’ “

Baytieh’s original memo also alleges that Spitzer said he knew a Black student in college who only dated white women to get out of his “bad situation and situation” ta. That statement was later modified by Baytieh in an email to say that Spitzer said he knew a Black student who only dated white women to “raise his status.”

Spitzer defends comments

Spitzer defended himself in a memo given to the judge in the Buggs case that he was trying to identify potential racial causes and other mitigating factors. The female victim’s appearance is similar to Buggs’ estranged girlfriend.

“My questions are directly related to the whole question of Buggs’ identification or misidentification. There’s literally no other reason to bring race into the conversation except the fact of this case that Buggs wants to kill the man he believes is dating/sleeping with his ex-girlfriend — a white, blonde (with hair) woman,” Spitzer said in her memo.

He added: “My questions about Buggs and… the race of former girlfriends were simply to address the issue of cross-racial identity, the single biggest reason for murder cases. the person being debunked. I was simply exploring Buggs’ ability to determine, rightly or not, the race of female victims in that moment before he executed the two victims. ”

Debating who should be told

Baytieh’s memo argues that Spitzer’s comments should be passed on to Buggs’ defense attorneys under the recent Racial Justice Act, which allows attorneys to challenge a prejudice-based conviction about race. Scarbrough and Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve McGreevy – both running for judge in the June election – concluded that the comments were “detectable”. McGreevy suggested they should be referred to a judge in the sealed case, according to Baytieh.

Spitzer disagreed and removed all nine people present at the meeting – including himself – from handling the case and handing it over to a new prosecutor, according to his memo to Judge Gregg Prickett . The exploratory question was passed to Prickett.

Outrage over Spitzer’s comments comes a week after he sack Baytieh after concluding an investigation into whether Baytieh hid evidence in a 2010 murder case, causing beliefs are debunked. Baytieh’s defenders say he was actually fired for being a whistleblower for “racist comments.”

Is it blackmail to play?

Spitzer said in an interview Wednesday that Baytieh knows the investigation into the withheld evidence doesn’t look good to him, and is “blackmailing” the district attorney not to fire him.

“This is an act of utter desperation by a prosecutor who knows he was handcuffed in a cookie jar and is ready to do anything to protect himself, even fabricating the truth to make it worse. in front of the district attorney,” Spitzer said in a prepared statement.

“The prosecutor knows that he is being investigated for not properly disclosing evidence and with each passing day a day gets closer for investigators to find out the whole truth,” he wrote.

Election challenger calls for resignation

The racist comments drew a swift response from one of Spitzer’s challengers in the June 7 primary election for the district attorney’s seat.

Democratic rival Pete Hardin, as well as local Democratic Party chairman Ada Briceno, called for Spitzer to immediately step down.

“The fact that Todd Spitzer considers race in deciding whether California should execute a black person is not only appalling but disqualifying,” said former Marine Judge Hardin. “Our justice system has to be colorblind, and the sheriff of law enforcement just presents himself as a anything but a person.”

Hardin added: “The implications of these racist remarks go far beyond the immediate case. The Elected District Attorney has now shown himself to be a racist, and to ensure fair justice, the Attorney General should investigate whether the stubbornness of Orange County’s top law enforcement official affected other cases involving people of color. “

The controversial statements were made during a meeting of the office’s special circumstances committee. In addition to Spitzer, Scarbrough, McGreevy and Baytieh, were present Assistant Chief District Attorney Shawn Nelson, Special Counsel Pat Dixon, Assistant District Attorney Keith Bogardus, Assistant District Attorney Troy Pino and Assistant District Attorney Jason Baez.

Domestic disputes

After discussions, Spitzer concluded his office would not seek the death penalty against Buggs, who was accused in April 2019 of killing Wendi Miller, 48, a local activist, and Darren Partch 38. age, a former professional hockey player. .

Buggs, a personal trainer from Huntington Beach, was arrested days after a roommate discovered the bodies at Partch’s residence on the 2100 block of East 15 Street in Newport Beach. When he was charged, Buggs was behind bars involved in a seemingly unrelated violent burglary that followed the murder.

At the time of the murder, Buggs was in a legal battle with an ex-girlfriend. In one request for a restraining order, the ex-girlfriend accused Buggs of threatening her and breaking into her home at least twice. Buggs responded in his own court filing by accusing his ex-girlfriend of assaulting him and calling him a racial slur.