Orange County shooting victims call on DA Todd Spitzer to resign

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer is facing calls to resign. It started with the 2011 Seal Beach shooting that left eight people dead. The DA’s case against the shooter was thrown out because of prosecutorial misconduct, something Spitzer criticized in his campaign in 2017.

Then last year, Spitzer appeared at a retirement party for two of those prosecutors. He said in a speech, “I’ve worked with these fine gentlemen, and I have nothing but respect and admiration for them. There was evidence in their case that they were responsible for that. It came to light that had nothing to do with them, that they were really unfairly blamed, that they took a lot of responsibility on their shoulders that was completely inappropriate.”

This comes as an appeals court revived a lawsuit about prosecutors’ use of jailhouse snitches, saying the program is actively concealed and includes unconstitutional surveillance.

All of that has victims demanding his resignation.

“Victims are saying, ‘Hey Todd, you were saying one thing when you were running, now you’re saying something else. We’re not going to stand for this. You’re no longer our advocate. We want you gone,’” says KCRW contributor Gustavo Arellano.