CALIFORNIA DREAMING….

California, the promised land. Tinsle-town.  Beverly Hills. San Fran. 

They have all lost their minds. Maybe it's the drought, because it can't be something in the water. 
We came across two stories this weekend, one worse than the next. 

In the first story, a California prosector, one Robert Murray, Esq., was assigned to handle an L&L case involving a child. As plea negotiations heated up between the prosecutor and the PD-with the defendant denying guilt- the prosecutor turned over a transcript of the defendant's interrogation - and ADDED these lines, although the defendant didn't say them:

“[DETECTIVE]: You’re so guilty you child molester.
“[DEFENDANT]: I know. I’m just glad she’s not pregnant like her mother.”

California has laws similar to Florida, and the effect of the added lines essentially made the case a capital sexual battery case (one in which the victim was penetrated), substantially raising the stakes and putting pressure on the PD to get his client to take the current deal and avoid the substantially more serious charges. 

The PD asked for the CD of the interrogation, and on the day of trial when it was finally handed over -with the gig up- the prosecutor disclosed that he had added the lines "as a joke." 
The judge was not amused.  Finding egregious conduct by the prosecution, the Judge dismissed the case. 
Here's where it gets disturbing. 
The prosecution appealed, taking the position that anything other than physical violence to the defendant did not constitute egregious conduct sufficient to warrant dismissal. The California AG's office is vigorously defending the conduct of Mr. Murray, who currently remains a prosecutor. 
(h/t and the full story is recounted at Scott Greenfield's Simple Justice Blog here.)

Truth is stranger than fiction. 

JUDEN.
The German word for "Jew" still carries an almost chilling connotation. A sneer. A curse. An accusation that one, by virtue of their faith, is less than human. 

UCLA is a major university. A well respected institution of higher learning. UCLA has a Judicial Board which acts as a Supreme Court for the Student Council. Rachel Beyda, a sophomore who wants to be a lawyer someday, applied for a position on the board and she was interviewed. Here are the questions she was asked, and keep reminding yourself this happened at a well respected University in a major American city:

Q: “Given that you are a Jewish student and very active in the Jewish community,” Fabienne Roth, a member of the Undergraduate Students Association Council, began, looking at Ms. Beyda at the other end of the room, “how do you see yourself being able to maintain an unbiased view?”
For the next 40 minutes, after Ms. Beyda was dispatched from the room, the council tangled in a debate about whether her faith and affiliation with Jewish organizations, including her sorority and Hillel, a popular student group, meant she would be biased in dealing with sensitive governance questions that come before the board, which is the campus equivalent of the Supreme Court.

The NY Times article on this disgusting display is here. 

Put another way, the questioning amounted to this:

"Considering that you are a Jew, how can you be fair?"

Considering that you are black, asian, catholic, a woman, a homosexual, a gypsy, physically handicapped, ….pick your suspect class…how can you be fair like the rest of us? 

How indeed? 

So lets recap the news from California: 

Prosecutors intentionally manufacture evidence of the most despicable type (intercourse with a child) and the Attorney General's office defends their actions on appeal. 

Meanwhile at one of the State's premier Universities, being a Jew leads to suspicions of being unfair. They might as well have accused her of being cheap and a money lender as well. Disgusting. Truly, utterly disgusting. 

Welcome to California, 2015. 

See You In Court. 

Tomorrow: A couple of PDs and Judge De La O….and then a hero comes along….