A recall attempt against Marin County (San Rafael), California, DA Paula Kamena, engineered by medical-marijuana activists, was crushed by voters who also rejected a challenger for the DA's job. Kamena beat the recall attempt by a six-to-one margin. The election was the climax of one of the most bizarre political episodes in the county that is located across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. It was not the end of the matter, however, because state authorities began a criminal investigation into whether there was a hidden purpose behind the recall campaign. The recall movement was originally launched against several family judges by residents who lost bitter child-custody disputes. When that campaign fizzled, a group of medical-marijuana supporters took up the cause and picked up enough signatures to force a recall election against DA Kamena. At the same time, Thomas VanZandt, the brother of one of the leaders of the failed recall movement against the judges, ran for DA against Kamena.
The state criminal investigation arose from the complex and convoluted aspects of the events that led to the recall election, raising questions about the real purpose of the recall movement and who was behind it. For example: only 6,519 Marin County residents voted for VanZandt, despite the fact that DA Kamena's critics collected some 20,000 signatures on their recall petition. Some 6,000 signatures were disqualified by the county elections office, but there were still enough signatures to force the recall election. This led Michael Smith, the county's registrar of voters to declare, "Did people understand what they were signing? That's the question."
Joseph I. Cassilly, state's attorney for Harford County, Maryland, member of the NDAA board and chair of the association's Cybercrime Committee, testified in May before the Crime Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee at a hearing on "Cybercrime and Local Prosecutors." Calling for a unified approach to cybercrime, Cassilly told the subcommittee, "If our law enforcement efforts continue to develop in a random manner...we will not be protecting our citizens and our confusion will only be aiding criminals." Outlining what he called three areas of concern, he urged better training and more resources in the cybercrime field, regional forensic labs like the one established in San Diego, and standardization of federal laws and uniform laboratory standards.
During a hearing in Panama City, Florida, defendant Mitchell Aguiniga who was charged with home invasion, rape, kidnapping and armed robbery, told Judge Dedee Costello that he would not go to trial. "And how do you intend to stop the trial?" the judge asked. Witnesses said Aguiniga responded by running toward Assistant State Attorney Nancy O'Conner, pushing her into a wooden railing in front of the jury box and placing his hands on her throat. A sheriff's deputy grabbed Aguiniga in a chokehold so O'Conner could escape. "Well," Aguiniga said as officers dragged him from the courtroom, "I guess I stopped the trial." He was wrong. The trial was not delayed and the prosecutor's office considered whether to charge Aguiniga with assault.
"The surest sign of the integrity of a district attorney," editorialized the Boston Globe, "is the willingness to admit error. Prosecutors who acknowledge and seek to correct flaws in their operation enhance the credibility of the entire justice system." The Globe was referring to Ralph Martin, II, DA of Suffolk County (Boston), Massachusetts, who moved to have a first-degree murder conviction vacated and the prisoner released after his office followed up leads from federal investigators and found that the man was innocent. Another suspect was subsequently charged with the crime. In praising Martin, the Globe said, "District Attorney Martin has shown a consistent willingness to put the demands of justice ahead of the win column." DA Martin, an NDAA vice president, declared, "If you're assessing your worth as a prosecutor, you derive great satisfaction from knowing you did the right thing."
Martin has announced that he will not run for re-election next year and isn't sure what career course he'll take after that. He says he might run for governor of Massachusetts if the present acting governor, Jane Swift, decides to bow out, and he will not rule out joining her on the ticket as candidate for lieutenant governor if she decides to run for the top office. (Governor Swift moved up from lieutenant governor earlier this year when Gov. Paul Cellucci was appointed U.S. ambassador to Canada by President Bush.) Martin said he would consider a job in the private sector, but he would not leave Boston. Martin also ruled out challenging Governor Swift if she decides to run, calling that possibility "inelegant at best," adding, "If she decides to run, I'd support her." Both Martin and Governor Swift are Republicans.
Martin was appointed DA in 1992 by then Governor William F. Weld after longtime DA Newman Flanagan retired and became executive director of NDAA. According to the Boston Herald, "Martin was given little chance of surviving his first electoral test. But in a bitterly contested election he defeated challenger Gerard Malone in 1994 (and was) overwhelmingly re-elected in 1998."
DA Martin is also completing a year as chair of the American Bar Association's Section of Criminal Justice.
Liane Richardson, chief deputy DA of Benton County (Corvallis), Oregon, has been named DUII Prosecutor of the Year 2000 by the Oregon DAs' association, based on "dedication and commitment to prosecuting individuals who drive while under the influence of intoxicants and risk life and injury to others." Terry Mahr, city attorney of Newburg, was named DUII City Prosecutor of the Year.
In Washington: Indiana lawyer and former U.S. attorney Deborah J. Daniels is the new assistant U.S. attorney general for justice programs, while Jimmy Gurule, Notre Dame University law professor and assistant attorney general in the first Bush administration, is the new undersecretary for enforcement at the Treasury Department.
President Bush has nominated Sarah J. Hart to be the director of the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) at the U.S. Department of Justice. Hart was formerly chief counsel for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections since 1995. Previously, she served for 16 years as a prosecutor in the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office.
Deaths
Louis P. Bergna, a legendary DA of Santa Clara County, California, and a former NDAA president (1975-76), died in March after suffering a heart attack while playing golf with friends. He was 79.
"We regarded him more as a personal hero than as a boss. Losing him is like losing your father," said Tom Fahrenholz, who was hired by Bergna nearly 30 years ago and continues to work as an assistant DA. He had so much integrity, Fahrenholz said, that when anyone tried to influence a case by asking Bergna for a favor, Bergna would instead leave a note to his deputies in the case file, stating simply: "No deals. LPB."
San Jose lawyer James McManis, who got his start working for Bergna, recalled, "His instruction to all new deputies was to do the right thing. If a deputy felt that any case should not be prosecuted, that was good enough for the boss."
In one of his most celebrated cases, Bergna won a conviction of Dr. Geza de Kaplany, a Hungarian anesthesiologist who mutilated his wife with a butcher knife and then doused her with acid because he believed she was unfaithful. Bergna flew in a surprise witness from Germany -- a former lover -- who debunked Kaplany's defense that he had a split personality.
Bergna served six terms without facing an opponent and loved his job so much, former colleagues recall, that he turned down an offer of a judgeship. A retired judge friend remembers that when then Gov. Pat Brown made the offer, Bergna replied, "I don't want to be a judge, Governor, I like what I'm doing."
Bergna contracted polio when he was five years old and had limited use of his right arm the rest of his life. Nevertheless he played golf regularly and enjoyed driving his tractor on the property surrounding his suburban home.
Sources for some of the material in this article included the Boston Globe, Boston Herald and San Jose Mercury News newspapers.
|
|
