A judge will hear closing arguments Friday in a legal dispute over whether Orange County law enforcement has changed its ways in the wake of the so-called “jailhouse snitch scandal.”
Scott Sanders, the O.C. assistant public defender who, a decade ago, uncovered the widespread misuse of jailhouse informants by county law enforcement, now wants a San Diego Superior Court judge to drop charges in a decades-old murder case.
He’s arguing that the O.C. District Attorney’s Office and Sheriff’s Department deliberately hid nearly two dozen pieces of evidence that could have been useful in defending against the murder charges, violating his clients’ right to a fair trial. Sanders also says some of the law enforcement witnesses he called during the months-long hearing — including Ebrahim Baytieh, a former O.C. prosecutor who’s now a Superior Court judge — testified “untruthfully.”
“Prosecution team members … have compellingly and consistently shown they cannot be trusted to meet their legal and ethical obligations,” Sanders wrote in a recent court filing.