The US Justice Department (DOJ) Thursday released a report detailing how prosecutors and sheriffs in Orange County, California, improperly used a jailhouse informant program in ways that routinely violated the constitutional rights of criminal defendants. The report determined, “there is reasonable cause to believe that the Orange County District Attorney’s Office (OCDA) and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) engaged in a pattern or practice of conduct… that systematically violated criminal defendants’ right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment and right to due process of law under the Fourteenth Amendment.”
Under 34 USC 12601, it is “unlawful for any government authority… to engage in a pattern or practice of conduct by law enforcement officers… that deprives persons of rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States.” A “pattern or practice” does not require the existence of an official policy.
The pattern or practice at issue is Orange County’s custodial informant program, in which custodial informants in the Orange County Jail system act as agents of law enforcement “to elicit incriminating statements from defendants represented by counsel, and that for years OCSD maintained and concealed systems to track, manage, and reward those custodial informants.” The OCDA and OCSD failed to meet their constitutional disclosure obligations regarding the use of custodial informants.
The Sixth Amendment guarantees that accused persons shall have the assistance of counsel. Government agents violate the Sixth Amendment when they elicit inculpatory statements from a charged individual outside the presence of counsel. The report alleges that Orange County prosecutors intentionally created situations likely to induce the accused to make incriminating statements without the assistance of counsel.
The Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause requires prosecutors to disclose to criminal defendants material evidence in the possession of the prosecution team that is favorable to the defendant, sometimes known as the Brady rule. OCDA prosecutors “failed to seek out and disclose to defense counsel exculpatory information regarding custodial informants.”
The 63-page report caps a nearly six-year civil rights investigation by the DOJ Civil Rights Division.
