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DA Totten's slap to Latino community
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More from OpinionVentura County District Attorney Gregory Totten has recently taken action to legally prevent Judge Arturo Gutierrez, a well-respected Ventura County jurist, from hearing certain misdemeanor cases.
California Superior Court judges are appointed by the governor and are not required to follow the whim of prosecutors. They are, however, required to exercise good judgment, judicial discretion and an understanding of law in trying and sentencing offenders. Like any other attorney, the district attorney should always show utmost respect for the court.
In speaking with several local attorneys regarding Judge Gutierrez, all praised his experience, impartiality and temperament. To his credit, he served the community well by volunteering to calendar many of the cases Mr. Totten is complaining about. This was part of a plan agreed to by both the court and the DA to reduce a backlog in cases.
To our surprise, Mr. Totten fails to recognize a basic element of our court system. It requires some independence between courts and prosecutors. This enables judges to make decisions based on law and procedure, free from any outside interference.
Simply stated, prosecutors should prosecute and judges should judge. The public should be wary of any prosecutor who also attempts to play the role of judge.
The League of United Latin American Citizens believes there is more to this than meets the eye. Mr. Totten's criticism doesn't make any sense. After all, like any other prosecutor, the district attorney is free to appeal any decision he doesn't agree with.
This political posturing should be seen for what it is — an attempt to influence the appointment of Ventura County judges and possibly a nominee from the ranks of the DA's office. This has been the practice in this office for years and does not serve the best interests of Ventura County's citizens.
County residents are well-served by many excellent judges. However, as trusted advocates for the Latino community for more than 78 years, LULAC encourages diversity in future appointments. The community's rich diversity of African-Americans, Asians, Hispanics and others also have something to contribute to the justice system, given the opportunity to serve.
Mr. Totten's act of disrespect toward Judge Gutierrez is the latest item in a growing list of reasons as to why Ventura County Latinos should not trust him to prosecute offenders fairly or administer the DA's office in a manner that promotes a fair hiring and promotion process.
His attempt to sully Judge Gutierrez's reputation is one more slap in the face of the Latino community and its leadership. Taking into account the unfulfilled election-time promises Totten made to Latino leaders, the discriminatory practices LULAC has had to frequently take him to task for, and the zero percent of Hispanic and African-American administrators in his office, this latest misstep is more unwelcome news for many of us who honored him with our vote.
Mr. Totten has some explaining to do to the community as to his motive for this undeserved rebuke of a respected judge. Both Judge Gutierrez and the community deserve an apology.
— David M. Rodriguez, of Camarillo, is California state deputy director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, www.lulac.org.
Posted by laura_54321 on December 11, 2007 at 6:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)
With the 7-2 Supreme Court ruling this week affirming that federal judges have wide lattitude when sentancing, and do not have to adhere to sentancing guidelines, it would appear that Totten's ideas have been given a thumbs down.
Judges judge, that's what they do. Totten is wrong, and his position harms the system.
Posted by desdave on December 11, 2007 at 6:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Mr. Rodriquez, I don't see anything in this story about race. I am assuming that your concerns about this being a slap at hispanics is that most of the people being let off with no probation are hispanic, and therefore would be impacted if sentencing was stiffened. Anyway, the part of this judges actions that bothers me is that many of the people he lets off with no probation had in fact agreed to probation as a part of a plea bargain. This in fact slaps the prosecutors office by disregarding their work. If there is a plea bargain, it typically means the person has pleaded to a lesser offense in exchange for a known punishment. So we have people walking away with no supervision for who knows what crime. If nothing else, this action will have this judges actions reviewed from by outside eyes and see if there is anything to these charges. Where is the slap in that??
Posted by wallace on December 11, 2007 at 7:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
There isn't anything about race or ethnicity in the story, except for some people who see race or ethnicity in everything. Some of those people work for the race/ethnic grievance industry like Rodriguez.
Judges should be chosen based on their professional experience and character, not by the color of their skin.
Posted by bob100 on December 11, 2007 at 7:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"To our surprise, Mr. Totten fails to recognize a basic element of our court system. It requires some independence between courts and prosecutors. This enables judges to make decisions based on law and procedure, free from any outside interference." It seems a bit pretentious for a non-attorney to presume to know more about the law than an elected DA. The penal code code provides for this exact remedy so the DA is not left without a remedy when judges are giving away the farm to motivate guilty pleas. I believe it is racist itself to attack the DA simply because the judge is hispanic. This isn't about race, Mr. Rodriguez, it's about justice. You wouldn't be here at all if the judge at issue was white. You seem to imply that a minority judge should be immune from any scrutiny simply because of his race - that is not only simplistic and foolish - it is racist. Stick to the issues and the facts, both of of which you are uninformed about.
Posted by Equitable_Enforcer on December 11, 2007 at 9:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)
My compliments to Judge Gutierrez for his work in reducing the backlog of misdemeanors. He performed a great service to our county.
Race has nothing to do with the issue. The real issue is public safety. To play the race card is in itself both divisive and racist.
In some cases, where both Probation and the DA so recommended, plea bargains were negotiated. Probation with appropriate search terms was recommended when the defendants were deemed likely to reoffend. This provides law enforcement with a tool ---that is used when needed to protect us all. By overriding said plea bargains, Judge Gutierrez took away that tool and stuck a knife in public safety.
Mr. Totten and his staff take public safety seriously. He followed the law and took the only action he could under the circumstances.
Posted by CaptainAmerica on December 11, 2007 at 9:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)
When is Totten up for re-election?!
Posted by EagleEye on December 11, 2007 at 1:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The question is whether we want liberal judges to turn Ventura County into a virtual sewer like Los Angeles next door. The Ventura County Star and its left leaning editorial board has clearly thrown in with the race bating LULAC and the criminal defense bar.
I live in Ventura County and I support my police department and my District Attorney for fighting criminals and soft-on-crime judges who make it easier for them to vandalize with graffiti, steal, use drugs and hurt people.
Posted by jd1511 on December 11, 2007 at 1:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Thank you, Mr. Totten for exposing judges with agendas, like Judge Arturo Gutierrez.
You are right Judges should judge; however when they decide to push their own race based agendas, like Judge Gutierrez, they should be exposed.
I ask Judge Gutierrez to do the right thing and resign immediately.
Posted by CaptainAmerica on December 11, 2007 at 2:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Someone should resign, but it ain't the judge!
Posted by iseepeeple on December 11, 2007 at 7:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Oh brother!! NOT the race card again...don't ya ever get tired of it?
"Slap to the Latino community?" Give me a break..I'd be willing to bet you (David M. Rodriguez) were not in support of the Oxnard Gang Injunction either...were ya..HUH?
So sick of the County Star Editor allowing this kind of irresponsible journalism out of his staff.
Posted by ironwoman on December 11, 2007 at 8:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This is not a slap on the latino community. Stop using the race as an excuse.
Posted by dpennock on December 12, 2007 at 12:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Way to go, MrWright1. LULAC sure likes to play the race card when a rogue judge wants to ignore the terms found in plea bargains. If the defendant doesn't want to agree to the terms, then go to trial! It's very simple to understand unless you're stupid or biased.
It looks like someone wants to protect criminals who have admitted their guilt and have taken a lesser sentence to avoid the time and expense of a trial. Re-elect Mr. Totten! Vote out the judge!
Posted by spokenit on December 12, 2007 at 7:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Catlover exactly! Every time,, its away to draw attention to something that one does not like. The race card brings out everyone to watch and to see what happens. Which deters fairness or truth. The white community is always having to fight that card. The only Slap should be to Mr Rodriquez for drawing that card from the deck Once more.
Posted by Ventura22 on December 12, 2007 at 10:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
There they go again, pulling the old worn-out race card as a defense for their actions. Criminals are criminals, nothing more. They should all be treated the same. It may just by circumstance that the majority of criminals here in VC are latino. In other parts of the state, it would be a different balance but same crimes. My hats-off to the DA for taking a stand and paving the road for ousting a crappy, soft-on-crime judge. The judges should be held accoutable for their actions too and have to answer to the public like the DA. Unless we want to end-up like LA county, more law-abiding citizens should stand up and demand accountability from all levels of the legal system. As a taxpayer, I want criminals to do the time. Probation here is a joke. If that means building more jails, then so be it. This is the cost of living in a safe country.
Posted by OPD_Wolfie on December 12, 2007 at 10:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Wolfie believes that Mr. Rodriguez is trying to stir the racial pot. If you have fault with Mr. Totten about the judge's rulings then howl at the moon about it. Don't try and get the folks all riled up over some other issue. Pick your battles Mr. Rodriquez.
Posted by BeaHappi on December 12, 2007 at 12:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)
If Judge Guiterrez was Judge Smith, then who would this be a slap too?
Give me a break! It's okay to disagree with what Totten did but to make this into a race issue is embarrassing and inaccurate.
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