Kamala Harris & Mike Ramos - futures linked?

Is San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos really going to be considered by Jerry Brown (for appointment to the State AG) should Kamala Harris get elected to the US Senate?  I suppose other that the better smile and hair, we won't lose much. Neither prosecute cops for bad shootings it seems, which is a big issue these days. Both are relatively insular (e.g. if you are not politically important or can make a press release out of something they do with or against you), they don't seem to care and both seem to enjoy their mutual hugs. For example, next week Harris meets with an African American media group (which will undoubtedly lead to a photo op and some free political coverage), but in the time leading up to this confab has ignored pleas to prosecute some bad shootings where local DAs (like Ramos) are looking it seems for ways not to prosecute (and in one of the cases, a dying shooting victim is kicked by a Caucasian ride-along (riding along in civilian clothes with a County Sheriff Deputy-- even his name is being withheld from disclosure --must be a contributor!). Power ....unchecked...ain't it wonderful.

Groundbreaking Study Documents How Courts Are Impeding Fair Disclosure in Criminal Cases [like this is a big surprise in San Beat&Hangem County]

From a press release from nacdl.org via mailmanager.net



On November 17, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, NACDL officially released its latest report, Material Indifference: How Courts Are Impeding Fair Disclosure in Criminal Cases, a major study produced jointly with the VERITAS Initiative at Santa Clara Law School. The event featured comments by NACDL President Theodore Simon, NACDL Executive Director Norman L. Reimer (who also moderated the event), and special guests David W. Ogden, former Deputy Attorney General who is now a partner at the WilmerHale firm, and the Hon. Alex Kozinski, Chief Judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The report's co-authors – VERITAS Initiative Director and Professor Kathleen "Cookie" Ridolfi, NACDL White Collar Crime Policy Counsel Tiffany M. Joslyn, and VERITAS Initiative Pro Bono Research Attorney Todd H. Fries – also discussed their findings and recommendations. The event was broadcast live by C-SPAN and video is now available on demand.
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In courtrooms across the nation, accused persons are convicted without ever having seen information that was favorable to their defense. The frequency with which this occurs and the role it plays in wrongful convictions prompted NACDL and the VERITAS Initiative to undertake an unprecedented study of Brady claims litigated in federal courts over a five-year period. The study asked: What role does judicial review play in the disclosure of favorable information to accused? The results revealed a troubling answer – the judiciary is impeding fair disclosure in criminal cases and, in doing so, encouraging prosecutors to disclose as little favorable information as possible. The report exposes in stark detail the depth and breadth of the problem and offers three reform proposals that would serve as mechanisms for increasing fair disclosure in criminal cases.
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Following the report’s release, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) announced plans to re-introduce the bipartisan Fairness in Disclosure of Evidence Act and affirmed the need for reform: “We can no longer allow the government to have a finger on the scales of justice, tipping it in its favor.”
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Complete copies of the report, executive summary, and fact sheet are available at www.nacdl.org/discoveryreform/materialindifference. Learn more about NACDL's work in the area of discovery reform, including links to model legislation and more, at www.nacdl.org/discoveryreform.\.
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Who is policing this?
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www.nacdl.org/discoveryreform/materialindifference.

Time to Offer Some Public Education on Identity Theft??

"Over 8 million people in the U.S. were victims of identity theft in 2010. Come find out what you can do to protect your personal information as well as avoid and recover from identity theft"--an announcement from the Santa Clara County DA re a public seminar on identity theft on March 15th of this year. Take a hint Mikey..... I recall the San Bernardino County's DA's office having fliers some years ago offering some guidance and suggestions. Maybe its time for San Bernardino to step up to the plate and do more?

On Mike Ramos, San Bernardino County District Attorney--is Mike Ramos being Shielded by the California Department of Justice's Kamala Harris??

Go to SBCSentinel@yahoo.com for December 2, 2011 and look at the long article on San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos--remarkable collection of potential issues with this guy. I am glad someone appears to be keeping tabs.
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This blogger has always been amazed at how County Supervisor Derry, who made a $5,000 omission in a campaign report, is charged with a felony in a re-election year.
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District Attorney Mike Ramos does not prosecute (nor does the State Department of Justice), his republican ally First District County Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt, who was caught misrepresenting the source of significant contributions by the FPPC and only had to submit an amended report,
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District Attorney Mike Ramos reportedly failed to report a payment (to his wife) of twice the amount Derry get indicted for (in his "700 Form") and suffered no penalty.
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District Attorney Mike Ramos in the last election cycle where he barely staved off a run off, failed to report credit card payments for campaign purposes in his FPPC report (and even though this is one of many violations, a modest campaign fine was proposed by the FPPC).
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Biane screws up once and gets hammered, while Ramos & his buds skate it seems.
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Ramos was some co-chair of one of Arnold Swartzennegger's re-election campaign committees--he ran (and arguably still does run) a political machine with connections all the way to Sacramento (e.g. the FPPC, having a democratic attorney general running for governor attend one of Ramos' fund raisers in a race where a democratic candidate had been endorsed over incumbent district attorney Mike Ramos, the Fair Political Practices Commission and from the San Bernardino Sentinel article, it seems the California Department of Justice--how else could he repeatedly go unprosecuted for failing to go after allies breaking the law??)
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Does anyone think Postmus was the only power broker?
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Mercury News editorial: State must fix three strikes law - San Jose Mercury News

Mercury News editorial: State must fix three strikes law - San Jose Mercury News

Blogger Bob's comment: As we struggle to pay the price for incarceration in California (and now in San Bernardino County), the local costs of more prisoners being released early due to overcrowding, maybe we need to start the dialogue [and trim the demagoguery]. Stanford University's Three Strikes Project, led by law professor Michael Romano, is trying to get on the ballot an initiative for the November 2012 ballot [whether the proposition sews the seeds of its own demise remains to be seen and how it may drive tough-on-crime voters to the polls that might not otherwise come out this year may be a concern to some]. The Three Strikes Project's stated aim is to apply the law to only serious or violent third offenders which would save money and steer the law closer to what voters intended back in 1994. The three strikes law has been used by some district attorneys to give life sentences to about 4,000 inmates who committed nonviolent crimes. The price? Per a 2010 state report, the total cost of applying the Three Strikes Law at nearly $20 billion, or roughly $35,000 a year per inmate. No one need go further than San Bernardino County DA's [Mike Ramos] traveling road show video that measures departmental success based on the number of years people are incarcerated--its like the phony assurances the US Defense Department tried to give the public during the Vietnam conflict when body counts were used to try and measure success. We should be talking about policies which improve public safety. Does incarcerating non violent offenders always make us safer. Why can't we do house arrest for convicted felons like Ramos did for the San Manual character convicted of attempted murder--opps I forgot, his Tribe were amongst Mike Ramos' supporters?

DISTRICT ATTORNEY MIKE RAMOS WANTS MORE MONEY, EVEN IF IT SHUTS DOWN MORE COURTS?

In a whirlwind PR tour focusing not on conviction rates for major crimes but years of total sentences meted out, Mike Ramos admits he is actively lobbying the Governor's office (ya know the Democratic candidate who attended Ramos' fundraiser when there was a democratic challenger) for more permanent funding for the monitoring of the early releasees from state prison (caused by various court orders); the sad part of all this is that the Courts which Ramos' staff fills with cases, is operating on reserves--they ran out of budgeted money some time back!! Mike Ramos' lobbying (for permanent funding of the handling of the early, court-mandated state prison releasees) could drain court funding, forcing more courtroom closures and or staff reductions. Ramos remark? "They should have people present in funding discussions" (like they would know when Ramos is calling the Governor's staff). The empire building of Mike Ramos, even if it cripples the Court system which exists for everyone, is something that has to be watched. Maybe its time to look at prosecution decisions? If 90% of the alleged domestic violence victims want the charges against the significant other dropped as was recently reported in the local papers, is that part of the culture of abuse and victim response, or maybe could some of it be cases that could be deferred to civil harassment and restraining order (and injunction) remedies [See California Code of Civil Procedure Section 527.6, 527.8 & Welfare & Institutions Code Sec 15657.03], for which there is a ready remedy, can be handled using Judicial Council forms [CH-100 & a fee waiver] and court trained staff to already handle [and if there are violations of the injunctions, automatic incarceration].