Former OC Prosecutor Alleges DA Todd Spitzer Raised Race As Issue In Death Penalty Case
ORANGE COUNTY (CBSLA) - Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer was accused of racism for comments he made over a death penalty debate.
The mother of Newport Beach murder victim Darren Partch said she wasn't told by the Orange County District Attorney's Office or elected DA Todd Spitzer that they wouldn't go for the death penalty for suspect Jamon Buggs.
She claims she heard it from police despite the fact that she'd been led to believe that the death penalty would be sought by prosecutors for the accused killer of her son and another woman.
"She feels as though the defendant has won because her impression is the decision was made to seek only life without parole simply to protect the elected District Attorney Todd Spitzer from the release of racist comments he made during a death penalty meeting about this case," said Rick Welsh, the victim's mother's attorney.
A December 2021 memo from Ebrahim Baytieh, a high ranking prosecutor, who was recently fired for an unrelated matter, according to Spitzer, made serious accusations about his boss.
There was a meeting a few months earlier about whether to seek the death penalty for murder suspect Buggs, who is Black. Former DA Baytieh said Spitzer allegedly told the group that the race of the defendant's girlfriends was important when discussing the suspect's prior domestic violence record.
Baytieh said race irrelevant and claims Spitzer disagreed, saying he "knows many black people who get themselves out of their bad circumstances and bad situations by only dating white women."
Spitzer blasted his former employee, saying he's disgusted by the mischaracterization of the discussion. The DA claims his questions pertained to the prosecution of Buggs and why he allegedly killed a woman he'd never met, someone he may have mistaken for his ex-girlfriend.
"My question about Buggs and what the race of former girlfriends was simply to address the issue of cross-racial identification. The single biggest reason for murder convictions to be overturned. I simply was exploring Buggs' ability to identify, properly or not, the race of the female victim in that moment before he executed two victims," Spitzer said.
The DA said the decision on what penalty to pursue was unrelated to any of these discussions. According to Sptizer, he weighed all factors, including the wishes of family members and decided on life without the possibility of parole.
The Orange County District Attorney is up for reelection and two former prosecutors are challenging him. The primary is in June.
