Date: December 15, 2016
OCDA’S STATEMENT REGARDING USDOJ’S CIVIL INQUIRY
SANTA ANA, Calif. – Today, Orange County District Attorney (OCDA) Tony Rackauckas spoke with the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, the Honorable Eileen Decker, in response to the letter by OCDA on Jan. 4, 2016.
“Letter to the U.S. Attorney General” on www.orangecountyda.org may be found by selecting Letters from the Reports drop-down menu. The written response released today by the U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ) Civil Rights Division may also be found on our website under Letters. The OCDA issued the following statement:
Back on Jan. 4, 2016, the OCDA invited an inquiry from the USDOJ, stating in part, “I am respectfully requesting and welcoming your office to conduct any review you deem appropriate … In order to facilitate this, I am offering the United States Department of Justice unfettered access to any documents and/or personnel of the OCDA.” The informant used in the Scott Dekraai case came from a federal informant operation to combat jail gang violence.
We are grateful to the USDOJ Civil Rights Division for responding to our request today. We appreciate the USDOJ Civil Rights Division’s answer today which stated they “will seek to determine whether either entity engages in a pattern or practice of conduct by law enforcement officers that violates the United States Constitution or federal law … [or] systemic violations of the Constitution or federal statutory rights.” They further wrote in part, “We recognize that District Attorney Rackauckas requested that the Department of Justice conduct any review it deems appropriate in regard to OCDA’s informant policies and practices. We appreciate that the request was accompanied by an offer to provide ‘unfettered access’ to personnel and documents. This kind of cooperation will permit the Department to proceed with its investigation efficiently and expeditiously.”
We are pleased to work with the USDOJ Civil Rights Division, provide all needed documents and information, and hope for an expedited conclusion to their civil inquiry. The OCDA believes at the conclusion of USDOJ Civil Rights Division’s review, they will conclude that the OCDA did not engage in systematic or intentional violation of civil rights of any inmate and no innocent person was wrongfully convicted.