Legal News

DA and Sheriff butt heads yet again

By Richard Binder

In another chapter of what seems to be an ongoing saga of DA vs. Sheriff, last week Susan Kang Schroeder publicly blamed a fizzled criminal case on a law enforcement "code of silence."

The prosecution of Christopher Hibbs, an Orange County sheriff's deputy who faced trial this month on assault charges for firing a Taser at a man who was handcuffed in the back of a squad car, ended in a mistrial, with jurors voting 11 to 1 to acquit. The district attorney's office decided not to re-file the charges, with Schroeder saying there were "inconsistencies" in the testimony of Hibbs' fellow deputies that doomed the case.

Some observers say the latest feud may reflect a county that is evolving beyond its reputation as a bastion for law-and-order conservatism in which a politically mighty Sheriff's Department was deemed untouchable. The clashes seem to keep on coming, each one more ferocious than the next.

Full story at LATimes.com.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on April 23, 2009 (boomark / email).