Thursday, September 09, 2004

Idiotic Gang "Expert" Opinions

I know I've written on this borderline criminal notion of police gang "experts" who will say just about anything to make a defendant to look bad, making stuff up wholesale under the guise of "expertise." I've probably bored quite a few of you with this. Well, I have a case going now that is going to blow the top off of this at some point. A few months ago a DA elicited gang testimony in a shooting case I have, coming up with some absurd theory of retaliation against a snitch where 2 gang rivals collaborated to punish this snitch, who was from my client's gang (BTW - It is highly doubtful that my client is a gang member, but I'll just accept the cop's absurd premise for the sake of showing how absurd it is. However, no reasonable doubt can exist that the co-defendant is from a rival gang to my client and the victim's gang). I always thought the theory was idiotic, and I think I exposed much of the theory as bogus.

Well, fast forward a couple of months, and what do I get dumped on me? Multiple CDs of wiretaps, wiretap motions with affidavits by detectives and reports on the wiretap results. Furthermore, I got recordings of jail visits of people related to the case (none of them for my client). What do these show? They show pretty obviously that the "theory" and "expertise" testified about by the detectives was simply put - absurd. They show that a much more reasonable explanation shows what happened, one that no expertise was really needed for, about what rivals shot this victim. Unfortunately, they cannot fit that into some nice little package to also pin it on my client.

So what do I do now? I believe that there was outrageous government conduct - the DA elicited opinions that contradicted evidence that she had which would tend to exonerate my client. The DA did this with knowledge (constructive or actual - constructive knowledge means that the DA should've known, in this case the DA's boss actually filed the wiretap motions months before this DA elicited these opinions, and the investigator in this case worked on those wiretaps) that contrary information existed to show the information was false. Furthermore, the DA withheld exonerating information from me at the preliminary hearing, a violation of my client's constitutional rights (some people still think that stuff matters, although those people are becoming an ever smaller minority). Finally, it just violates honesty and fair play to present what the prosecutor knows to be a false theory. I guess in the DA's defense, perhaps the prosecutor could be so hard-headed, dishonest or mean spirited to still believe in the theory that harms my client but is unsupported by any actual evidence as opposed to the contrary theory which exonerates my client and is supported by mounds of evidence. But at least this should be turned over before they presented their contrary theory.

I'll keep people updated on this case. Could it be that I actually have 2 completely innocent people in just a year that I'm representing in gang shootings? These almost never happen, how could that be?

Oh, I forgot to mention, the DA is the same one I had on my other "innocent" client case.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds just like the DA's in Santa Cruz. I got a case where my client and his friend get assaulted at a bowling alley by someone that has a serious problem with my clients friend. No gang slogans, no "Sur" or "norte" being yelled.
The "victim" even says that this definately was NOT gang related he just has a serious problem with my client's friend.

Of course after the co-defendant stabs this guy, and my client one punches someone else, my client gets roped into an attempted murder with gang allegations.

For one punch?

wow

Anonymous said...

What a waste of a law degree, but I guess someone has to fill the void of bottom feeding offices of Public Defenders and Ambulance chasers. Plain and simple you are a disgrace to the profession, by freeing and representing criminals and individuals with fraudulent chararcteristics.
Your clients survive by creating using intimidation and fear to conduct their criminal activity and as a whole are responsible for the detriment of society; just as you the enablers and defenders of their actions do as well.
Open your eyes, see the bigger picture and do something positive and correct with your life and profession.