An Orange County prosecutor who was fired last week previously wrote a memo detailing racist comments he alleged his boss, Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer, made while discussing the case of a Black murder defendant, according to copies of the internal documents obtained by The Times. Former prosecutor Ebrahim Baytieh alleged in a memo dated Dec. 3 that during a meeting of top prosecutors on Oct. 1, Spitzer said that he knows “many black people who get themselves out of their bad circumstances and bad situations by only dating white women. ”Spitzer was discussing the case of a Black man, Jamon Buggs, charged with fatally shooting two people, allegedly because of jealousy over an ex-girlfriend, who is white, according to the memo. However, Spitzer said on Wednesday that the words attributed to him in the memo were not correct. What he actually said, he told The Times, was that he has seen Black men date white women to “improve their stature in the community. ”Spitzer fired Baytieh, who was once a close advisor, last week, citing an investigation into whether Baytieh withheld evidence from defense attorneys in a different murder case. Baytieh’s firing and the disclosure of the memos, which were first referenced by nonprofit news site Voice of OC, come at a politically charged time. Spitzer is running for reelection, with the primary in June, against two former Orange County prosecutors. Baytieh is running for Orange County Superior Court judge. In the Dec. 3 memo, Baytieh listed the names of eight other prosecutors who attended the October meeting on whether they should seek the death penalty or life in prison for Buggs. During a discussion about prior allegations of domestic violence against Buggs, Spitzer asked about the race of Buggs’ previous girlfriends, according to the memo. Baytieh replied to his boss that the “race of the victims is completely irrelevant. ”According to Baytieh’s memo, he added that it would be “inappropriate... to consider or give any weight to the race of the victims. ”But Spitzer persisted, the memo said. After Spitzer made the remark about why Black men date white women, Baytieh said he pushed back again, stating again that the race of the victim should not be discussed in a decision about the appropriate punishment to seek. This time, according to the memo, Baytieh cited a recently signed law called the Racial Justice Act. Spitzer then drew from his personal experience, according to the memo. In college, Spitzer said, he knew a Black student who dated only white women. According to the memo, which was addressed to defense attorneys in the Buggs case, Spitzer allegedly said he “knew for sure that this black student did so on purpose to get himself out of his bad circumstances and situations. ”Spitzer contends he said that the student dated white women “to enhance his status.
All data is taken from the source: http://latimes.com
Article Link: https://www.latimes.com/california/st...
#spitzer #newsradio #usnewsworldreport#kingworldnews #newstodaybbc #newstodayupdate #
Информация по комментариям в разработке