The Inyo Grand Jury hit District Attorney Art Maillet with a wet hanky when it came to allegations that he authorized the illegal release of confidential documents on his political opponent and about never talking to the media. However, they did say a little bit about how jurors are called to court and how plea bargaining goes on until the last minute by the DA.
Although the DA does not deal with trial jurors, the Grand Jury did look at what they called an increased number of summonses to potential jurors. They also commented on a lack of timely plea bargaining by the District Attorney’s office, sentencing guidelines and other settlement issues to deal with what the Jury said is a backlog of court cases.
The Jury found that there is “a need to improve timely court processes.” They said that the District Attorney “strongly refutes any allegations related to plea bargaining in a timely manner and stated that it is the policy of his office to offer a reasonable settlement early in the court proceedings.” It is not at all clear if the Grand Jury interviewed anyone but the DA on this matter.
The Grand Jury suggests that trial judges should “hold all parties to timely plea processes before setting trial dates.” The Jury Report says plea deals should be agreed upon prior to trial dates without last minute sweeteners offered. The Jury leans on Inyo’s judges to deal with this.
The Grand Jury also recommended hiring a retired judge from outside the County to head a panel directed to study the current court system for improvements.
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Don’t know Maillet or anyone on the Grand Jury. But I do know that (1) Maillet was reelected by a comfortable margin after Inyo voters had several years to evaluate his performance, and (2) the odds that every citizen on a Grand Jury is part of some corrupt scheme to exonerate proven criminal behavior is pretty remote. This doesn’t make Maillet a good guy but it does turn the mirror around to where it should be: facing the voters. You really do get the elected officials you deserve, a truth to which the entire nation has recently begun awakening.
Tourb.
I agree with part of what you say, but Maillet ran unopposed until Harvey entered the race late, so we had a choice of pot or kettle.
But I disagree that we deserve either corrupt officials or officials who protect corruption in their office, as Maillett is doing by claiming personnel confidentiality. Any public employees, especially those in law enforcement, are by definition public servants, and their misconduct should be a matter of public record. Basically what Maillet is saying is that his office is so mismanaged and corrupt that he’s afraid of his own employees suing him and the county, as is actually happening.
Its funny (not really) that the Grand Jury said that the AG’s office was the responsible party to investigate, because if you call the AG’s office, they will tell you it is the Grand Jury’s responsibility to investigate and bring action. After all no one has been murdered.
Most voters are lucky enough not to get involved in the mire of the DA’s office, and the Grand Jury is not corrupt, only silly and toothless, and of course, if Maillet refuses to talk to them like he does to the media, what do they know unless they start interviewing members of the public that have been abused by the DA, which they obviously didn’t do. Like most volunteer organizations that take up people’s time, maybe the more qualified are too busy working and raising kids, etc.
Most people aren’t concerned with the DA’s office because they have no dealings with it.
Art Mallet has no businesses working as a District Attorney at all. When the DA and the grand jury refuse to stand up to the rule of law and order there is no justice. I will be calling the Ca. Bar Association to complain about Mr. Mallet tomorrow. I hope others do the same.