California Attorney General Kamala Harris, who has announced she will run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by her fellow Democrat Barbara Boxer, was recently shot down by the California 5th District Court of Appeal for downplaying a prosecutor’s fabrication of a confession by a defendant charged with child molesting who was recently charged again for child sex abuse.
The national political media is ignoring Harris’ embarrassment before the court even as she moved on to the national stage last week speaking at a gala dinner by the pro-abortion group Emily’s List held in Washington, D.C.
The Hill reported Harris vowed at the dinner to fight for “the most voiceless and vulnerable” in society.
Apparently that vow doesn’t extend to Harris fighting for the rights of poor minority defendants to not have prosecutors forge confessions to heinous crimes.
Without the effort of former U.S. Justice Department attorney Sidney Powell, followed by an outraged law professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds, and their publishers at the New York Observer and USA Today, this would have remained a local Bakersfield story.
Kern County Deputy District Attorney Robert Murray admitted to falsifying a confession transcript that he provided to a defense attorney during plea negotiations. Murray later claimed he was joking, but only when caught. The crime involved in the fabrication could have sent the defendant away for life.
The trial judge threw out the charges against the defendant as a result of the faked confession being exposed.
The state appealed, which got Attorney General Harris’ office involved. Harris told the appeals court that the prosecutor’s actions were not “outrageous” and did not ‘shock the conscience’ and therefore did not warrant the dismissal of the charges.
Harris argued that only physical abuse would warrant the dismissal of the charges. The appeals court sharply rejected her arguments in its decision filed February 24:
“On appeal, however, the People dispute that Murray’s misconduct was outrageous or conscience shocking in a constitutional sense, as it was not physically brutal…
“Indeed, there is simply no support for the People’s contention that an act must involve some form of physical brutality in order to support a sanction of dismissal. Meanwhile, there is ample support for defendant’s contention that egregious violations of a defendant’s constitutional rights are sufficient to establish outrageous government misconduct. ..
“Here, the trial court found Murray deliberately altered an interrogation transcript to include a confession that could be used to justify charges carrying a life sentence, and he distributed it to defense counsel during a period of time when Murray knew defense counsel was trying to persuade defendant to settle the case. Further, Murray did not reveal the alterations until nine days later, and only then when he was directly confronted about the fabricated lines by defense counsel. This is egregious misconduct and, as is shown below, it directly interfered with defendant’s attorney-client relationship. Because Murray clearly engaged in egregious misconduct that prejudiced defendant’s constitutional right to counsel, the trial court was correct in finding Murray’s actions were outrageous and conscience shocking in a constitutional sense.”
Incredibly, while Murray is being investigated by the State Bar, Harris has no plans to prosecute Murray. Her office claims there is a “lack of evidence” according to a report at Bakersfield Now:
“The State Bar of California is seeking to suspend Kern County Deputy District Attorney Robert Murray for two years from practicing law and place him on three years probation, but have the probation stayed.”
“…Eyewitness News also contacted the State Attorney General’s Office to ask if it will seek criminal charges against Murray. A spokesperson said no criminal charges would be sought, because of a lack of evidence.
“Murray remains employed at the Kern County District Attorney’s Office, assigned to the crime lab.”
Details of the 2013 case and prosecutorial malfeasance against Efrain Velasco-Palacios were reported by the Bakersfield, Californian. The case involved alleged sexual abuse of a ten year-old girl.
Bakersfield Now reported last week Velasco-Palacios was charged again for sex with a minor under fourteen. Prosecutors believe he impregnated the girl when she was thirteen. The girl is due to give birth soon.
How long will it take the national political media to report on Kamala Harris tolerating criminal behavior by a prosecutor that let an accused child molester go free to molest again?
