Anthony J Rackauckas

In yet another sign of tension between Orange County's most powerful law enforcement branches, Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas has accused the Sheriff's Department of botching a child molestation investigation involving a sheriff's detective who ultimately killed himself before he could be arrested. Rackauckas wrote to sheriff's officials and suggested their investigators were "merely going through the motions" as they investigated a deputy suspected of molesting young boys earlier this year.

A state Republican party official who accused Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas and spokeswoman Susan Kang Schroeder of engaging in a political vendetta against him has filed an ethics complaint against them with the state bar. The dispute stems from a letter written in 2005 by Timothy J. Morgan, treasurer of the Republican National Committee and a former committeeman from Santa Cruz, to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger supporting parole for Paul A.

The prosecutor who helped send DeWayne McKinney to prison on a murder charge -- and agreed to set him free nearly two decades later -- testified Wednesday that he was "likely" not a killer but couldn't be certain. Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas was a young prosecutor in 1982 when he persuaded a jury that McKinney, then a gang member, committed the execution-style killing of 19-year-old Walter Bell during a robbery two years earlier at a Chapman Avenue Burger King in Orange.

The son of Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas was sentenced to 60 days in jail Tuesday after pleading guilty to driving drunk with his 5-year-old daughter in the car. Superior Court Judge Douglas Hatchimonji agreed to stay Matthew Anthony Rackauckas' sentence while the county Probation Department determined whether he could serve the time in home confinement. Rackauckas is the second of the district attorney's sons to get into trouble with the law since their father was elected in 1998.

Lawyers for a former Orange County assistant sheriff, who is accused of corruption and faces other charges, filed a legal motion this week requesting that the district attorney's office be recused from the case because of the strong political ties between Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas and Sheriff Michael S. Carona. The attorneys for George Jaramillo cited Rackauckas' and Carona's close relationships with GOP political consultant Michael S.

Orange County District Atty. Tony Rackauckas said Friday that he would, as expected, seek reelection next year to a third term. Rackauckas, a Republican, was elected in 1998 and resoundingly re-elected in 2002 despite a stinging grand jury report accusing him of mismanagement and cronyism. One opponent to Rackauckas has emerged -- Assemblyman Todd Spitzer (R-Orange), a former Orange County supervisor.

A judge on Tuesday threw out a wrongful-termination lawsuit filed against Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas by a former press aide. Michelle Emard, who was fired as a district attorney's spokeswoman in May 2003 after eight months on the job, alleged she was dismissed after challenging orders to blacklist certain news reporters and to concentrate on improving the prosecutor's political image at the expense of the public's right to know.

A long-simmering feud between Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas and Assemblyman Todd Spitzer spilled over in Sacramento last week when the former county supervisor accused Rackauckas' office of lying to the Legislature.

Several lawsuits have been filed in the last six years against Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas by former employees who accused him of political favoritism and unethical behavior. Of these cases, Rackauckas was ordered to reinstate three workers, and he prevailed in two trials. Several cases are pending.

A Los Angeles County judge has dismissed most of a lawsuit filed by a group of former Orange County prosecutors against Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas. In response to a last-minute motion Friday in a Norwalk courtroom, Judge Philip H. Hickok ruled as a jury was preparing to agree on a $4-million verdict. Hickok ended the trial after agreeing with county attorneys that provisions of state labor code on which the suit is based do not apply to government workers.