SANTA ANA, Calif.—Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer announced Nov. 9 that his office will now be charging convicted drug dealers with murder if they manufacture or sell drugs that result in someone dying. The move comes as fatal fentanyl poisonings have skyrocketed across Orange County and the United States over the last few years….

SANTA ANA—An Orange County Superior Court judge on July 14 granted a request by prosecutors to dismiss charges related to two alleged rape victims in the case against a Newport Beach hand surgeon and his girlfriend, who are accused in drugging and sexually assaulting several women. Prosecutors from the California Attorney General’s Office had said…

Law authorities say they used investigative genetic geology to solve the 1976 rape and murder of a 19-year-old nursing student. Investigators said the technology helped identify the man who attacked Janet Stallcup at Christmastime that year while she was on her way to a party. Her body found eight days later inside her car, about two-…

Authorities in Orange County, Calif. say they’re seeking an uptick in impaired driving. Speaking during a June 21 Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) event, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said driving under the influence cases are up 40 percent year-over-year. Felony driving under the influence charges have increased by 25 percent during the past…

SANTA ANA—Days after the man and woman charged with killing a six-year-old boy in a road-rage shooting on the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway, they got into another traffic altercation in which the alleged shooter waved a gun at another motorist, prosecutors said in court papers filed June 16. Marcus Anthony Eriz, 24, and Wynne Lee,…

A 12-year veteran of the Garden Grove Police force is facing charges following allegations he assaulted and threatened homeless people while on duty. Officer Kevin Dinh was charged with two misdemeanor counts of unlawful beating by a police officer, two misdemeanor counts of simple battery, and four misdemeanor counts of attempted criminal threats, according to the Orange County District…

The man suspected of gunning down a six-year-old boy in an act of road rage was charged with murder June 8, authorities said. Aiden Leos was killed May 21 on his way to kindergarten when the car he was traveling in was shot on the 55 Freeway in Orange, Cali. His mother, who was driving the car,…

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer joined 43 California counties on May 26 in filing a civil lawsuit against the early release of 76,000 state inmates. “It is my job as district attorney to keep Orange County safe,” Spitzer said in a press release. “The public must be given the opportunity to question why the California Department of…

SANTA ANA—Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer issued a stern warning May 27 to a pair of unidentified suspects sought in the road- rage shooting death of a 6-year-old boy on the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway in Orange, as the reward posted in the case swelled to $310,000. At a news conference in Orange, the…

The constitutional rights of defendants are in jeopardy because of a backlogged court system and mask mandates in Orange County, a Southern California criminal attorney says. Karren Kenney of Kenney Legal Defense told The Epoch Times that the Orange County court system is so backed up that the notions of getting a timely trial and…