Tony Rackauckas | |
---|---|
Orange County District Attorney | |
In office January 4, 1999 –January 7, 2019 | |
Preceded by | Michael Capizzi |
Succeeded by | Todd Spitzer |
Personal details | |
Born | Anthony Joseph Rackauckas Jr. March 18,1943 Long Beach,California |
Political party | Republican |
Spouse | Married |
Children | 5 |
Residence | Newport Beach,California |
Education | California State University,Long Beach (BA) Loyola Law School (JD) |
Anthony Joseph Rackauckas Jr. (born March 18,1943) is a former District Attorney of Orange County,California and a former Superior Court judge.
After losing his reelection bid for a sixth term as Orange County DA in 2018,Rackauckas has come under fire for allegedly fabricating evidence related to a rape and kidnapping case.
He was born in the family of Mexican-American Maria Socorro Limón and Anthony Joseph Rackauckas,whose family had arrived from Lithuania. Rackauckas served in the United States Army as a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division from 1962 to 1964. After completing his service in the army,he attended California State University,Long Beach from 1964–1968 while simultaneously serving in the United States Army Reserve. [1]
After earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from CSULB in 1968,Rackauckas attended Loyola Law School while simultaneously serving as a social worker in the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services. He graduated from Loyola in 1971,earning his Juris Doctor degree. [1]
In 1972,Rackauckas left the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services to become a Deputy District Attorney in the Orange County District Attorney's Office,where he served until leaving in 1988 to enter private practice. While in private practice,Rackauckas authored Proposition 115,which appeared on the June 1990 ballot.[ citation needed ]
Rackauckas left private practice in 1990 when he was appointed by California Governor George Deukmejian to be a municipal court judge. Rackauckas served as a municipal court judge until March 1993,when Governor Pete Wilson appointed him a Superior Court judge,a post in which he served until becoming District Attorney [2] of Orange County.
Rackauckas won the support of 59% of Orange County voters in the June 1998 election [3] for District Attorney against Deputy District Attorney Wally Wade and took office in January 1999. He then won the support of 62% of the voters in a March 2002 rematch with Wade. [4] He was unopposed in his June 2006 [5] and 2010 [6] bids for a third and fourth consecutive term,winning 100% of the vote in each year.
In February 2014,Rackauckas filed documents required to seek a fifth term in office. He raised $419,000 during a fundraiser at the Balboa Bay Resort in Newport Beach for his re-election campaign. [7] He won re-election in 2014 with support from 73.3% of the voters. [8] [9]
Rackauckas has been criticized by Public Defender Scott Sanders for his office's purported mishandling of jailhouse informants which has created difficulties in convicting and sentencing defendants due to the violations of defendants' constitutional rights. This resulted in the "taking off the table" of the death penalty for Scott Dekraai,who had pleaded guilty to murdering eight people and wounding another in the Seal Beach massacre. [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] Dekraai was sentenced on September 22,2017 by Goethals to eight terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole,one term for each of his victims and to seven years to life for attempted murder. [15] [16]
Rackauckas ran for a sixth term in 2018. [17] On November 6,2018,Rackauckas was defeated by Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer in a runoff.[ citation needed ]
After the electoral defeat,Rackauckas admitted during a deposition that he had used a high profile sexual assault case to increase his chances of winning the election. His successor to the office of District Attorney,Todd Spitzer,stated that Rackauckas had invented evidence against the defendants in the sex case. The charges against the defendants were dropped. [18]
In January 2019,Rackauckas opened a law office in Tustin,focusing on transactional law and civil litigation.
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nonpartisan | Tony Rackauckas (incumbent) | 275,410 | 61.8% | |
Nonpartisan | Wallace Wade | 170,402 | 38.2% | |
Total votes | 445,812 | 100.0% |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nonpartisan | Tony Rackauckas (incumbent) | 296,830 | 100.0% | |
Total votes | 296,830 | 100.0% |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nonpartisan | Tony Rackauckas (incumbent) | 336,328 | 100.0% | |
Total votes | 336,328 | 100.0% |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nonpartisan | Tony Rackauckas (incumbent) | 212,716 | 73.3% | |
Nonpartisan | Greg Diamond | 77,473 | 26.7% | |
Total votes | 290,189 | 100.0% |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nonpartisan | Tony Rackauckas (incumbent) | 209,148 | 38.5% | |
Nonpartisan | Todd Spitzer | 191,346 | 35.2% | |
Nonpartisan | Brett Murdock | 121,818 | 22.4% | |
Nonpartisan | Lenore Albert-Sheridan | 20,890 | 3.8% | |
Total votes | 543,202 | 100.0% |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nonpartisan | Todd Spitzer | 484,830 | 53.2% | |
Nonpartisan | Tony Rackauckas (incumbent) | 425,764 | 46.8% | |
Total votes | 910,594 | 100.0% |
Todd Spitzer is an American attorney and politician serving as the district attorney of Orange County,California. Spitzer successfully ran for Orange County district attorney in 2018 against incumbent Tony Rackauckas. Spitzer had previously served as a deputy district attorney from 1990 to 1996 and,under Rackauckas,as assistant district attorney from 2008 to 2010.
Thomas John Umberg is an American politician currently serving in the California State Senate. A Democrat,he represents the 34th district,which encompasses parts of northern Orange County and a small portion of Long Beach. Previously,he served in the California State Assembly,representing the 69th District. He is a partner at Umberg Zipser LLP in Orange County.
Michael S. Carona is a convicted felon and former sheriff-coroner of Orange County,California. He gained national prominence during the hunt for the killer of Samantha Runnion. After the quick capture of her murderer,Alejandro Avila,late night television host Larry King dubbed him "America's Sheriff" during an interview.
Stephen Lawrence Cooley is an American politician and prosecutor. He was the Los Angeles County District Attorney from 2000 to 2012. Cooley was re-elected in 2004 and again in 2008.
Nativo Lopez-Vigil was an American political leader and immigrant rights activist in Southern California. Lopez was a national president of the Mexican American Political Association and the national director of the Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana,a community service and advocacy organization for Mexican and Latin American immigrants throughout the United States.
Scott Randall Baugh is an American attorney,community leader and politician. He is a member of the Republican Party. He served in the California State Assembly where he eventually came to serve as a Republican leader. He also served as the chair of the Republican Party in Orange County,California from the early 2000's to 2015.
The Fullerton Police Department of Fullerton,California,was established in 1904 when the city was incorporated. The Fullerton Police Department currently employs 153 sworn officers and 78 civilian employees. It has a budget of about $35 million. The current chief is David Hendricks. The department has a Uniform Division,a Service Division,and a Detective Division all commanded by officers in the rank of captain.
Arthur Paul Carmona served more than two years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of two armed robberies on the basis of eyewitness testimony. His case took on prominence in the ongoing debate in the legal community over the reliability of eyewitness identification. After his release,he had become an activist for the wrongfully accused.
Sandra Sue Hutchens was an American law enforcement officer who was the Sheriff-Coroner of Orange County,California. She was appointed to the position on June 10,2008,replacing acting sheriff Jack Anderson,who had led the department since the January 14,2008 resignation of Mike Carona. Prior to her appointment,she was retired from the position of division chief within the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Hutchens was elected in 2010 and re-elected in 2014. In 2017 Hutchens announced that she would not seek re-election for a third term. She endorsed the successful election bid of Undersheriff Don Barnes.
David Ormon Carter is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
Marsy's Law,the California Victims' Bill of Rights Act of 2008,enacted by voters as Proposition 9 through the initiative process in the November 2008 general election,is an amendment to the state's constitution and certain penal code sections. The act protects and expands the legal rights of victims of crime to include 17 rights in the judicial process,including the right to legal standing,protection from the defendant,notification of all court proceedings,and restitution,as well as granting parole boards far greater powers to deny inmates parole. Critics allege that the law unconstitutionally restricts defendant's rights by allowing prosecutors to withhold exculpatory evidence under certain circumstances,and harms victims by restricting their rights to discovery,depositions,and interviews. Passage of this law in California led to the passage of similar laws in Florida,Georgia,Illinois,Kentucky,Nevada,North Carolina,Oklahoma,Ohio and Wisconsin,and efforts to pass similar laws in Hawaii,Iowa,Montana,Idaho,South Dakota,and Pennsylvania. In November 2017,Marsy's Law was found to be unconstitutional and void in its entirety by the Supreme Court of Montana for violating that state's procedure for amending the Montana Constitution. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court reached the same conclusion as Montana under its own state constitution in 2021.
Scott A. Steiner is a Judge of the Orange County Superior Court in California,former Deputy District Attorney,former Chairman of the Orange Planning Commission,and former adjunct professor of California Evidence and Criminal Procedure at Chapman University School of Law. He is the son of former Orange County Board of Supervisors Chairman William G. Steiner.
Donald P. Wagner is an American politician,currently serving as a member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors for the 3rd district and chair. He previously served as mayor of Irvine,California and as a Republican member of the California State Assembly,representing the 68th district,which includes portions of Orange County. In 2019,Wagner won a seat as a nonpartisan representative on the Orange County Board of Supervisors,representing District 3.
Kelly Thomas was a homeless man diagnosed with schizophrenia who lived on the streets of Fullerton,California. He died five days after being severely beaten by six members of the Fullerton Police Department whom he encountered on July 5,2011,in what was later described as "one of the worst police beatings in [US] history."
On October 12,2011,a mass shooting occurred at the Salon Meritage hair salon in Seal Beach,California. Eight people inside the salon and one person in the parking lot were shot,and only one victim survived. It remains the deadliest mass killing in Orange County history.
The Anaheim police shootings and protests of July 2012 involve two fatal shootings by police officers in Anaheim,California,and subsequent public protests. On July 21,Manuel Diaz was shot and killed by Anaheim Police officer Nick Bennallack after he ran from the officers. Protests ensued after the shooting. On July 22,Joel Acevedo was shot and killed by Anaheim police in an alleged exchange of gunfire,making the seventh fatal shooting by an officer in Anaheim in twelve months. Both shootings were ruled justified by the Orange County District Attorney's Office,but a federal jury later found Officer Bennallack guilty of excessive force.
Michael Aaron Persky is an American attorney and former judge of the Santa Clara County Superior Court from 2003 to 2018.
The 2018 Orange,County,California District Attorney election took place on June 5,2018 for the first round. Because no candidate received a majority in the first round,a runoff took place November 6,2018,to elect the Orange County,California District Attorney. County-level elections in California are officially nonpartisan. Because no candidate received a majority,a runoff was held on November 6,2018.
Scott Loren Sanders is an American criminal defense lawyer and an advocate for both criminal justice and police reform.
The 2020 Los Angeles County elections were held on November 3,2020,in Los Angeles County,California,with nonpartisan blanket primary elections for certain offices being held on March 3. Three of the five seats of the Board of Supervisors were up for election,as well as one of the countywide elected officials,the District Attorney. In addition,elections were held for various community college districts and water districts,as well as the Superior Court.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)