District Attorney

Most voters have by now received their sample ballots, and those who plan to vote by mail are sending in their applications. The June 5 election is underway right now. It is noteworthy for several reasons. Los Angeles County voters will be selecting a new district attorney, and this is the first time since 1964 that there is no incumbent trying to hold onto the seat. The field is wide open. To win outright in this nonpartisan race, a candidate must get more than 50% of the vote.

Los Angeles County Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey gave conflicting testimony under oath during two union grievance hearings, attributing the contradiction to being confused and having problems with her blood sugar level, according to transcripts reviewed by The Times. Lacey, who is running for district attorney and has won major endorsements from newspapers, including The Times, testified under oath in 2009 and 2010 as part of a county employment dispute in which the union representing prosecutors accused the district attorney's office of retaliating against its officers.

The race to become Los Angeles County's top prosecutor took final shape Wednesday in what promises to be an election dogfight, with one candidate announcing plans to sue to prevent L.A. City Atty. Carmen Trutanich from calling himself "chief prosecutor" on the June ballot. With Wednesday's deadline up for would-be district attorney candidates, the field is set for Trutanich and five county prosecutors to battle for the chance to run the most powerful office in the county's criminal justice system — one responsible for prosecuting roughly 60,000 felony cases a year, including murders, rapes and robberies.

Most voters have by now received their sample ballots, and those who plan to vote by mail are sending in their applications. The June 5 election is underway right now. It is noteworthy for several reasons. Los Angeles County voters will be selecting a new district attorney, and this is the first time since 1964 that there is no incumbent trying to hold onto the seat. The field is wide open. To win outright in this nonpartisan race, a candidate must get more than 50% of the vote.

The defense attorney for a man accused of killing his wife, the daughter of a former California state senator, has asked a judge to dismiss the case, alleging that a deputy district attorney who was once leading the investigation illegally tape-recorded the defendant. In a motion filed at Norwalk Superior Court, defense attorney Henry Salcido asked that, at minimum, the Los Angeles district attorney's office be recused from trying the case against Bruce Koklich. Salcido alleges that Deputy Dist.

Do Los Angeles County prosecutors too often or too seldom use their power under 2000's Proposition 21 to charge an accused juvenile as an adult, without first submitting the question to a judge? Does "direct filing" against juveniles, as it is known, make residents safer? Is it a good escape valve for the justice system now that fewer juveniles can be sent to state youth camps, and now that prison realignment is making county jail space more difficult to come by? Los Angeles voters need to know how well the six candidates for district attorney grasp the facts of direct filing and whether and how often - and why - they would exercise that option.

Five of six candidates running for Los Angeles County district attorney squared off Wednesday at a forum hosted by The Times, with several outlining visions for the office that go beyond imprisoning hardened criminals to include reform of the justice system. The candidates' forum - the first attended by City Atty. Carmen Trutanich, who leads the pack in fundraising - saw barbs traded over government transparency, prosecutor morale and whether California should end capital punishment.

Three men convicted of purse snatching -- one of whom was sentenced to 99 years in prison -- were exonerated Friday in Dallas. They are the latest examples of men who have been wrongly convicted of crimes in Texas. Darryl Washington, Marcus Lashun Smith and Shakara Robertson were arrested in November 1994 and charged with aggravated robbery. The victim could not identify them, but witnesses who gave chase claimed the trio was responsible. As a result, a jury convicted Washington, who received the 99-year sentence, while Smith and Robertson accepted plea deals and were sentenced to probation.

I am the son of Robert F. Kennedy, who was murdered in Los Angeles more than 40 years ago. As the child of a crime victim, I am guaranteed by the state Constitution that my family and I will be treated with respect and dignity. Yet I was horrified to learn earlier this week that the Los Angeles Police Department had included the shirt, tie and jacket my father was wearing when he was assassinated in an exhibition at the California Homicide Investigators Assn. conference in Las Vegas.

DALLAS - On the way to witness his first execution in the town known as the "Execution Capital of the World," the Dallas County district attorney stopped at the prison cemetery to find his great-grandfather's grave. Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery in Huntsville is the final resting place of inmates whose families could not afford burial anywhere else. Tall pines guard the grassy expanse nicknamed "Peckerwood Hill," where many gravestones bear prison identification numbers, not names.

It's a heroic narrative that Carmen Trutanich has used while running for election: As a young prosecutor nearly three decades ago, he was investigating a murder in a South Los Angeles park when he was surrounded by gang members who fired shots at him. "Even faced with the gang members, Carmen Trutanich wasn't afraid," retired district attorney's Senior Investigator Jim Bell says in an online campaign video titled "Tru Stories. " Trutanich has touted that experience of coming under fire in a voter mailer, at a candidates' debate and on campaign videos during his campaigns for city attorney and now district attorney.

In an office of 1,000 trial lawyers, many of whom can be temperamental and self-centered, Jackie Lacey looks and acts like the adult in the room. It's her best asset as a candidate. Is it also her worst liability? Lacey, 55, is the chief deputy to Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley , and her task in the campaign to succeed him is to demonstrate that she has an agenda, a style and a mind of her own. Like Cooley, though, she has a low-key personality. She exhibits a certain gravitas - but also a lack, on first glance, of passion.

Alan Jackson is, at 46, the youngest of the six candidates for Los Angeles County district attorney. But he's tried his share of high-profile cases, including the successful prosecution of music icon Phil Spector, and that in turn has helped to elevate his profile. For name recognition he can't match Los Angeles City Atty.  Carmen Trutanich, and some voters may still confuse him with the country music star of the same name, but Jackson has worked hard to distinguish himself from the rest of the pack.

DALLAS - On the way to witness his first execution in the town known as the "Execution Capital of the World," the Dallas County district attorney stopped at the prison cemetery to find his great-grandfather's grave. Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery in Huntsville is the final resting place of inmates whose families could not afford burial anywhere else. Tall pines guard the grassy expanse nicknamed "Peckerwood Hill," where many gravestones bear prison identification numbers, not names.

Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas has spent three years defending an indefensible tactic that denies individuals the right to due process before they are named in a gang injunction. A federal judge has ruled it unconstitutional, but Rackauckas has now appealed that decision. He should abandon this costly and misguided legal battle that is little more than an attempt to bend the rules. Injunctions are powerful tools that can help law enforcement combat gangs. The theory is that by placing restrictions on the conduct of gang members - such as imposing curfews on them or limiting where they can congregate - the injunction will undercut a gang's ability to control the streets and commit crimes.

Five of six candidates running for Los Angeles County district attorney squared off Wednesday at a forum hosted by The Times, with several outlining visions for the office that go beyond imprisoning hardened criminals to include reform of the justice system. The candidates' forum - the first attended by City Atty. Carmen Trutanich, who leads the pack in fundraising - saw barbs traded over government transparency, prosecutor morale and whether California should end capital punishment.

Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury is one of the best reasons for living in Ventura County. ROBERT J. PERRY Camarillo

Re "Children Have a Right to Support," Aug. 16. This article misleads the reader into believing that the district attorney's involvement is a bright, shining sword in the child-support enforcement area and that children everywhere are benefiting. Nothing could be further from the truth. Once again, children are merely pawns in a game to expand big government. Very few children benefit more by money than by a noncustodial parent's involvement in his or her life on a day-to-day basis.

California is on the verge of a justice revolution. Realignment, as it is known, is a set of changes thrust upon the state by our collective inertia: Prisons had become so overcrowded as to violate the U.S. Constitution's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, and Californians demonstrated no will to pay more money for more prisons. As a result, the courts ordered the prisons to reduce their inmate population by 30,000 over the next two years. So Gov. Jerry Brown and the Democratic-controlled Legislature quickly and somewhat carelessly adopted realignment, which transfers responsibility for many felons who have completed their prison time, and many newly convicted felons, from the state to the counties.

A two-year corruption investigation in Oxnard uncovered "a clear pattern of fiscal waste by a small number of city officials" but produced no criminal charges, the Ventura County district attorney's office said Wednesday. The probe began in July 2010 when local investigators and FBI agents raided city offices, and later searched the homes of numerous officials. It yielded more than 100,000 pages of evidence, according to a lengthy report issued by prosecutors. Investigators found city officials had failed to disclose gifts from contractors, tried to delay the D.A.'s investigation, used public funds for expensive meals and submitted skimpy, often unsigned financial records that made it impossible to prosecute possible violations.