By City News Service
Key in Jail Cell Door
SANTA ANA (CNS) - An Orange County Superior Court judge has said he would consider hiring an expert to comb through jail records to help determine which inmates can be released to help inmates better comply with physical distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last month, Orange County Superior Court Judge Peter J. Wilson ordered the jail population reduced by 50%. During Friday s hearing, it was noted that Wilson meant the jail population should be lowered by half from where it was in March when there were 5,200 inmates.
So, Wilson is aiming to lower the population to 2,650. As of Friday, the population in the jails is 3,358. So about 708 inmates could be released to home confinement, placed on GPS monitoring or moved to another facility.
About half of those inmates are already ticketed for prison.
Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes has attempted to appeal Wilson s order, but so far has failed, compelling him to submit a plan on how to halve the inmate population.
American Civil Liberties Union attorneys, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of several current and former inmates, said in papers filed this week Barnes failed to submit the plan Wilson ordered.
Instead, the ACLU attorneys argued, Barnes “devotes most of his plan to discussing measures that are unrelated to population reduction. None of these measures address the urgent need for social distancing within the jail. The few measures that could conceivably promote social distancing are woefully inadequate.”
After unprecedented deal, key Orange County informant again faces life in prison
Oscar Daniel Moriel
By Meghann M. Cuniff
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In December 2017, federal prosecutors visited Orange County Superior Court to support something even more unusual than their cross-jurisdictional courtroom presence: an exceptionally light sentence for an attempted murder defendant who once testified he’d killed “up to five, maybe six” people.
Oscar Daniel Moriel originally faced life in prison under California’s three-strikes law when he was charged in 2005, but he spent more than a decade helping federal and state authorities as a jail informant in exchange for unprecedented leniency. Praised by federal and Orange County law enforcement officials as “instrumental” in securing convictions for major crimes, Moriel’s deal was described as fair justice for a man whose work against the Mexican Mafia mitigated his crimes and lessened his threat to public safety.
By City News Service
Jan 8, 2021
SANTA ANA (CNS) - Orange County topped its all-time high for COVID-19 hospitalizations again today with 2,251 patients, including 502 in intensive care as officials also reported 29 more fatalities.
The number of hospitalized patients increased from 2,249 Wednesday to 2,251 as the number of patients in intensive care jumped up from 485 to 502, according to figures from the Orange County Health Care Agency.
Of the 29 additional deaths, nine were skilled nursing facility residents and five were assisted living facility residents. The death toll is 1,972 with 664 of the dead from skilled nursing facilities and 203 from assisted living facilities.
County officials also reported 2,701 new diagnoses of coronavirus, raising the cumulative total to 177,733.
By City News Service
Jan 8, 2021
SANTA ANA (CNS) - An attorney representing alleged sexual assault victims of a Newport Beach hand surgeon and his girlfriend alleged in court today that Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer is continuing to meddle in the prosecution of the case.
A spokeswoman for Spitzer denied the allegation and said the county s top prosecutor has cooperated with the Attorney General s Office, which is prosecuting the case against Dr. Grant Robicheaux, 40, and Cerissa Laura Riley, 33, who are accused of drugging and raping several women.
The District Attorney s Office was kicked off the case by an Orange County Superior Court judge last year.