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D.A.'s office disputes Californian's report on ruling
| Monday, Oct 23 2006 10:46 AM
Last Updated: Tuesday, Oct 24 2006 9:02 AM
The Kern County District Attorney’s office accused The Californian Monday of distorting an appeals decision that sent a murder case back to the Kern County Superior Court for retrial.
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In a commentary piece posted on the district attorney’s Web site, Deputy District Attorney John Somers argues that the paper made it appear as though the prosecutor in the case of Glenn Maurice Johnson purposefully kept crucial information from the defense by using words such as “hiding” or “withholding.”
District Attorney Ed Jagels has promised a weekly critique of The Californian’s crime and court coverage. He said it will be posted at www.co.kern.ca.us/da/newsAnnounce.asp.
A Sept. 16 Page One article titled “Murder Mistrial” states that Arthur Norris, who prosecuted the case, withheld evidence in the form of a 45-page police report.
The word “withheld” was used by the state appellate court’s 5th District when it overturned the conviction in part because “the prosecutor’s withholding of discovery violated due process.”
The newspaper also used the word “hid” when it first reported the appeals court ruling. In a four-sentence Law & Order item that ran on Page B7 on Sept. 2, the paper said the appeals court threw out Johnson’s conviction “because the prosecution hid evidence.”
Somers said that implying that evidence was intentionally kept from the defense was a “smear,” and that it’s clear that the action was “an inadvertent mistake by an overworked prosecutor.”
Somers also criticized The Californian’s Sept. 16 article for making comparisons to the Bruce Sons case.
Executive Editor Mike Jenner said Monday the Sept. 16 comparisons of the two cases were “absolutely relevant.”
“Both involved murder convictions that were overturned at least partly because a Kern County prosecutor didn’t share key evidence with the defense,” Jenner said.
Although the original conviction of Bruce Sons took place a decade ago, his third retrial ended in May when he was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and released for time served.
“How could anyone look at these two murder cases and not notice that similarity?” Jenner said.
The Sept. 16 article reported that the prosecution argued the evidence was mistakenly withheld. Also, a Californian reporter repeatedly contacted the District Attorney’s office for comment before the story was published, but no calls were returned.
Jenner said the use of the word “hid” in the Law & Order item could be argued.
“The appeals court didn’t say the withholding of evidence was willful.”
But, he said, “There is absolutely no doubt the word ‘withheld’ is correct and appropriate. Is the appeals court also guilty of trying to ‘smear’ the district attorney?”