Mass Killer Scott Dekraai Gets Life In Prison In Case Tainted By Government Misconduct

The judge had removed the death penalty as an option because of law enforcement’s misuse of a jailhouse informant.

Scott Dekraai, the shooter in the worst mass killing in Orange County, California, history, was sentenced on Friday to eight consecutive life terms in prison without the possibility of parole.

He should have received the death penalty but for a government misconduct linked to a jail informant programme.

The sentence handed down by Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals amounted to one life term for each person Dekraai shot and killed at a Seal Beach salon in 2011. He received an additional seven years to life for the victim who survived his rampage.

Last month, in a rare move, Goethals had excluded the death penalty as a punishment option after concluding that county prosecutors and sheriff’s deputies had engaged in misconduct in the use of the county’s now-notorious jail informant programme.

The sentencing comes after Goethals held weeks of hearings centred on whether the Orange County Sheriff’s Department could be trusted to turn over all records in the case.

“I have seen some extraordinary events in my time, but nothing like what has unfolded in this courtroom ― crimes and investigative conduct like I’ve seen here,” Goethals said from the bench before he read out the full sentence.

On the day that Dekraai opened fire in the hair salon, the judge said, “the gates of hell flew open” and Dekraai “emerged as the face of evil.”

Goethals said that for his crimes, Dekraai deserves to spend the rest of his life “in a cramped cell in a maximum security prison in some forgotten corner of California.”

Deputy Attorney General Michael Murphy ― the state prosecutor who took over the Dekraai case after Goethals recused the entire Orange County District Attorney’s office due to misconduct ― told the court that the California Attorney General’s office would not appeal the sentence.

On Friday morning, Attorney General Xavier Becerra said that his office would abide by Goethals’ decision to preclude the death penalty. “Our thoughts turn to the victims and families whose lives were shattered by this senseless act of inhumanity,” he said.

Both survivors of the brutal attack and family members of those who had lost their lives delivered heart-wrenching remarks before the sentence was handed down, often directing their anger at Dekraai who sat before them.

At one point, Paul Wilson, whose wife Christy was killed, spoke about her and the devastation of her loss.

“Sorry, Paul,” Dekraai said.

The courtroom exploded with shouts of of “Shut up!” from survivors and victims’ family members.

“You deserve nothing,” Wilson said to Dekraai. “I hope you find hatred staring back at you in prison.”

Many of the family members said they agreed with the judge’s sentencing decision and were relieved the proceedings were finally coming to an end.

Still, the sentence is extraordinary in the case of a mass murderer. Dekraai almost immediately confessed to police about his role in the 2011 killing. He formally pleaded guilty to the crimes in 2014. It appeared he would swiftly be dispatched to San Quentin’s death row.

But the case against Dekraai was marred by allegations of government wrongdoing. His sentencing had remained in limbo amid allegations that county prosecutors and sheriff’s deputies had improperly used a jailhouse informant in his case and then hid key evidence about that for years.

Just days after the 2011 shooting, county law enforcement moved Dekraai next to a prolific informant in the local jail. The informant, Fernando Perez, questioned Dekraai about his case. Then prosecutors and law enforcement officers interviewed Perez, and a recording device was placed in Dekraai’s cell, capturing more conversations between the pair.

While it is generally legal for law enforcement authorities to use informants to help bolster cases, Sanders has argued that in the particular circumstances, the move was a violation of his client’s constitutional rights.

That’s because it is illegal for government agents, including informants, to question or coerce statements out of a defendant who has been formally charged with crimes and is already represented by a lawyer, as Dekraai was.

Prosecutors contended there was no intentional violation because they did not instruct Perez to question Dekraai. While the contents of their conversations remain sealed, court records show that the informant did probe Dekraai about his crimes.

As Sanders requested more information about the contacts between the two men, he pushed to uncover what would turn out to be tens of thousands of records about the use of informants inside county jails by prosecutors and sheriff’s deputies.

The judge gave Dekraai the opportunity to make a final statement to the court before his sentencing. Dekraai apologised to the victims, the survivors and his own family.

“I was wrong for what I did,” he said. “I am to blame for the complete loss of control. I am sorry.”

Source: The Huffington Post, Matt Ferner, September 23, 2017

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