How long do we allow corruption from the Santa Barbara Public Defenders Office

Wow Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Bill McLafferty has passed away yesterday. No mention of the illness or if it was expected in the Santa Barbara News Press story though. As a matter of fact the story is buried on A7 of today’s news press at the very bottom and nothing appears on the local court web page. I mean no disrespect but based on fact, his family law cases that I have either reviewed or been a victim too we can hope an improvement is forthcoming. Furthermore based on his corrupt ways in handing out illegal divorces I saw he was responsible for criminal law prior. I feel that he must have been the Judge Brian Hill previously and I say this because of his blatant abuse of our legal rites. I wonder what happen to the motion before the State Legislators to impeach him as a Judge for those very reasons? Now this ties into a note I wrote about ten days ago and this would be a great time to share that information with all of you. Governor Swchwarzengger appointed a new Judge for the Ventura Superior Court about ten days ago. The appointee now get this was selected from the most corrupt Judicial Court System in California, ours right here in Santa Barbara. According to the story I briefly glanced over he was employed by the Santa Barbara Superior Court as a research specialist lawyer. So based on all the criminal acts practiced in our judicial system here, where Prosecutorial Misconduct and Malicious Prosecution are a daily occurrence. How did Governor Swchwarzengger feel our cesspool was the appropriate place to select his next Judge from? I do apologize for not noting the new appointees name, I did trying searching for it on the web but came up empty.

I have felt that based on my personal experiences four years ago in local criminal court there are a vast array of abuses against our civil rights and due process here in Santa Barbara. I have made the accretion that Judges, Prosecutors, Public Defenders and even Private Practice Attorneys act in harmony with one another while abusing the defendant’s rights. A quick example I recently gave was to question why the media coverage of a preliminary hearing involving a minor Ricardo Juarez was allowed at all? I have said from the start that it was politically motivated and in a large part Cam Sanchez was to blame for what transpired based on his lack of action on the day in question. Now is it possible I can come up with another prime example that would show the harmony of our judicial officers in not putting there best defense possible? Well in the Juarez arraignment and while calendaring for a preliminary hearing department not one but two 170.6 motions were used in order to steer that proceeding to Judge Hills court Room, something that a Trial Judge does not oversee. Thee 170.6 motion is used to obtain a different Judge in this case claiming bias by the one presently assigned to over see the proceedings before him. For years now I have referenced the Efren Cruz case and the prosecutor Dozer’s possible misconduct in those proceedings. Now after the conclusion of the Juarez Trial and Miss Adkins charges I have this question for you all. Based on the history of misconduct proven and alleged why are the present attorneys representing any one in a Gang related case not practicing the 170.6 motion to remove Judge Hill from overseeing any proceedings? I question this based on Miss Adkins repeatedly filed motions and claims of misconduct against District Attorney Dozer and Superior Court Judge Brian Hill. I also question why if Mr. Dozer had to release Efren Cruz from prison did Miss Adkins not either ask he not be allowed to prosecute the Juarez case or at the very least use Dozer’s past actions in defense of Mr. Juarez? It was her claim from the start that they had the wrong defendant. Based on the lack of action with good cause to remove Judge Hill from further abusing his position during gang related trials, one might come to the same conclusion as me. Our Public Defenders office is simply going through the motions while allowing our district attorneys office to break the law.I also found an odd postcard stapled in the Juarez file during my last review. Juarez 1257189 People VS. Ricardo Juarez appellate NO B214315 dated March of 09, I need to further research that finding and learn the meaning of it. Getting back to preliminary hearings and Governor Schwarzenegger newly appointed Judge. If Judge McLaffertys illness was a known factor and given the fact that currently preliminary hearings involving murder can take one year to complete what does he have in his plans for us? You see one of the reasons Trial Judges such as Judge Ochoa or Judge Hill do not partake in arraignments and preliminary hearing proceedings is it would severely bottle neck the courts and create a unnecessary back log before the accused is legally bound over such as we have now. If 1 of 5 defendants was not held over for trial after the conclusion of there preliminary hearing, and said hearing took one year to complete. Some one was quite possibly jailed for a year of there life with out legal cause. I hope you can see the grave injustice that is created by allowing a year to pass before a proceeding is completed. Let us not forget it is also against court rules for that action to take more than 90 day s in the first place.

Now some may find the timing of my posting in bad taste and to you I share this. Immediately following the needless death of a D.A. investigator to a drunk driver I happened across the Santa Barbara Craigslist Rants& Raves. I was very surprised while reading the postings that three fourths of the postings were talking of there displeasure and belief of corruption from our District Attorneys office. It was at that moment I realized I would have a chance if I worked hard enough to expose the corruption, we have only just began. You cannot use Magic to make these issues go away.




Larry Mendoza