Homicide

This team prosecutes homicide cases, appears at parole hearings of murderers convicted in Riverside County, and has a team that searches to apprehend fugitives who have evaded arrest.

Recent Significant Homicide Cases

In the case of People v. Crummel, James Crummel was convicted for the murder of a 13-year-old boy in 1979. Partial remains were discovered in 1990 in a remote area near Lake Elsinore, but they went unidentified until 1996. The remains were discovered when defendant Crummel disclosed the location after "stumbling upon them while hiking." Circumstantial evidence at trial established that the defendant lived on the same street as the boy in 1979, and that through the years he frequented the area where the boy's remains were discovered. Crummel also had a history of child molestation, attempted murder, and murder dating from 1961 with prior convictions in Missouri, Wisconsin, and Arizona. Crummel was sentenced to death.

A husband drove himself and his pregnant wife off a cliff, crawled out of the wreckage, walked back to town, bought beer, drank it, and took a nap. He was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

In People v. Jackson, an 82-year-old woman disappeared from her home on Mother's Day in 2001. Her car was found in Las Vegas 4 days later, but her body has never been recovered. Jackson was arrested six weeks later for the rape and attempted murder of an 84-year-old woman who lived just two blocks away from the first victim. Jackson was connected to the first crime by scent evidence left on an envelope in which the victim had kept money. He was convicted of first-degree, special circumstances robbery-murder in the first case and of seven felony counts related to the sexual assault, torture, and attempted killing of the second victim. The jury could not unanimously agree on the penalty, and that phase will be re-tried.

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Drug Enforcement

From run-of-the mill possession of drug cases to very serious meth lab cases with special allegations involving weight enhancements and drug-endangered children, the prosecutors in this unit consistently obtain guilty verdicts against those who use, sell, and manufacture narcotics.

Drug Endangered Children (DEC)

DEC addresses the issues of those who endanger children under 16 while manufacturing drugs - or possess the precursor chemicals for drug manufacturing.

Children who live in a meth lab environment are especially at risk from hazardous fumes, fire, explosion, and the unwitting ingestion of chemicals and finished drugs.

To bring immediate help to these children, Riverside County formed a DEC team - a sheriff's deputy, a public health nurse, a child protective services worker, and a deputy district attorney.

The DEC Team helps protect children by enforcing Health and Safety Code section 11379.7 - a law that created a 2-year sentencing enhancement for placing children in danger while manufacturing meth and a 5-year enhancement for causing great bodily injury to children while manufacturing.

In 2002, 196 meth labs were dismantled in Riverside County. Children under 16 were present in 43 of them (87 children in all). Nearly half of those children tested positive for methamphetamine.

In one DEC case, a defendant had a meth lab in an outbuilding of the house where he lived with four children. He also had several firearms and explosives - including having a handgun on his person when deputies served a search warrant. He said he would have shot it out with them if he hadn't been having a children's birthday party going on at the time. The defendant was convicted of operating a meth lab, the bomb, and four counts of child endangerment.

Recent Notable Drug Enforcement Cases

Two defendants were found guilty of manufacturing methamphetamine with weight and gun enhancements and - in addition they were convicted of operating a chop shop.

After being stopped by law enforcement, this driver was found in possession for sale of 42 rocks of cocaine and 60 grams of cocaine.

In a major win against street sellers, this defendant was one of 14 people arrested in January 2004 for drug trafficking in Moreno Valley. The defendant, who had been seen making a delivery of rock cocaine to street sellers who were minors and gang members, was convicted of conspiracy to sell, gang allegations, and distributing to minors.

In this major meth case, the defendants were in the process of cooking the drug that would have produced 60 pounds of methamphetamine. The site was so contaminated that one law enforcement expert called it "the most contaminated site" he had seen in 20 years

With the cooperation of San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos and our own District Attorney Grover Trask, the drug enforcement team established a uniform policy to deal with complex informant situations in the two counties. This framework will lead to more cooperation in fighting narcotic trafficking in the Inland Empire.

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Sexual Assault/Child Abuse

The experienced attorneys who serve in this unit prosecute rape, statutory rape, child abuse, child sexual assault, and child homicide cases. They also represent the People of the State of California in sexually violent predator cases - the defendants in which are the "worst of the worst" sexual offenders and are sent to prison.

In 2004, this team of prosecutors held 182 defendants in Riverside County accountable for their criminal conduct. Some of those cases included these:

• The defendant in one case was accused of raping his office assistant. He claimed that they were having an affair, and that it wasn't rape. The jury saw through this defense and convicted him. He was sent to prison for 6 years.
• In this child molestation case, the defendant was accused of molesting his stepdaughter from the time she was 5 years old until she was 12. He also had beaten her and threatened her. The abuse finally ended when she reported the conduct. This defendant will face 44 years to life when he is sentenced.
• In the first cold-hit case in Riverside County, this defendant was prosecuted for a forcible rape, robbery, and kidnapping for rape that occurred in 1997. This case had gone unsolved for several years. However, this defendant had been found guilty of multiple rapes in 1986. When the defendant's DNA was entered into the database, scientists linked him to the 1997 stranger rape through a rape kit collected on the date of the offense. He was sentenced to 156 years-to-life for his crime.
• The great uncle of two young girls had begun molesting one of them when she was 4 years old. He was convicted of five counts of child molestation and sentenced to 45 years-to-life.
• This foster mother was convicted of felony child abuse with great bodily injury for the inhuman punishment of her foster children. The woman pulled out the hair of 2-year-old Ruby, forced Ruby and her siblings to do up-downs, force-fed them, and beat Ruby. Ruby suffered multiple injuries on the outside; but the most severe were on the inside. The woman will be spending more than a decade in prison.

Major Crimes Unit

Gangs

We treat gang cases seriously. Gang members may plead guilty prior to the preliminary hearing only; and we seek the maximum penalty. Gang members are going to prison in greater numbers for longer periods of time than at any time in the history of the Riverside County District Attorney's Office.

• In this case of road rage, a 20-year-old man hurled a digital insult at a well-tattooed gangster from Los Angeles with the nickname "Stomper." Stomper responded with deadly aim as he fired a single bullet from his vehicle into the victim's head - ending his life. A good citizen wrote down the license number; a witness to the shooting later identified Stomper; and Stomper's girlfriend, after hours and hours of lies, finally said that he had admitted that he had done the shooting. Stomper was convicted of first-degree murder with a special circumstance and is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

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Crimes Against Police Officers

In one such case, six sheriff deputies and one Morongo Tribal security guard were called to investigate a suspicious campfire. As they responded in six vehicles to the Morongo Indian Reservation at midnight, 15-20 people fled the scene on ATVs, on foot, and in two motor vehicles. One person was seen with a rifle. He started to run away but then turned and fired at the deputies. He then escaped in the darkness. Ten different police agencies responded to the "officers need assistance" call which created a chaotic crime scene. The prosecutor tried the case using 7 eyewitnesses to the shooting but with little forensic evidence. He argued that the missing rifle was not necessary to convict. The jury believed him and convicted the shooter of 6 counts of assault with a firearm on a police officer and personal discharge of a firearm. This defendant is facing 140 years in state prison.

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Grand Theft Auto (GTA)

Formed as a separate unit in 1993, GTA attacks the problem of auto theft and carjacking. Every car thief can now expect at least a felony conviction and significant jail time - even on the first offense.

• In this case, the thief stole a car and switched the vehicle identification number and the license plates and then damaged the ignition and steering column. When caught by the police, he claimed to be the owner. But the real owner showed up and said that the defendant did not have permission to have his car. At trial, however, the victim changed his story because he had known the defendant for years and he had been pressured by the defendant's family after the arrest. He testified that he had, indeed, given the defendant permission to drive his car and that the cops had put words into his mouth. Through circumstantial evidence, the prosecutor proved to the jury that the victim was not telling the truth at trial. And this defendant was convicted of auto theft with a prior auto theft.

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Career Criminals

The goal here is to take hardened criminals off the streets for as long as possible.

• In this case, the defendant committed a series of take-over robberies at small businesses in the Riverside area. She went into businesses, pointed a gun at the victims, demanded money, and made them get on the ground. In several of these robberies, she physically put the gun to the victims' bodies; and in one instance, she put the gun to the victim's head. Eventually, the woman was identified and the police began looking for her. When they arrested her as she came back to the U.S. from Mexico, she had only a pellet gun in her possession. At trial she said she was not guilty of using a gun in the robberies because she only used a pellet gun; and she claimed she did the robberies under duress because she would have been beaten by a man had she not robbed the stores he selected for her to rob. Despite the presence of the pellet gun, the prosecutor was able to convince the jury that a real gun was used in the robberies, and the jury convicted her of 7 of the 9 gun-use enhancements. This substantially increasing the woman's exposure, and she is now serving 33 years in state prison.

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Special Prosecutions

The prosecutors in the Special Prosecutions Unit specialize in investigating and prosecuting cases of fraud, elder abuse, identity theft, environmental crimes, and High Tech Crimes.

Identity Theft

This defendant was an ER nurse who was taking the IDs of patients and using them to order products over the Internet. She victimized three patients including a senior citizen. She eventually pled guilty, and the court sentenced her to prison for three years despite her lack of a previous record. The court takes seriously ID theft cases - especially when a breach of trust has occurred.

Elder Abuse

• This husband had a history of physical and mental abuse of his wife. And when she began to get Alzheimer's disease, he decided his golden years would be easier without her. He had read about a person who had killed her husband with antifreeze and nearly got away with it, so he tried it. He gave his wife antifreeze at dinner and then watched as she vomited all night and then slipped into unconsciousness. After waiting about 10 hours, thus preventing any possible help for her, he called an ambulance. He said he had found an antifreeze bottle on the porch that had lipstick on it and suggested that she had consumed it because of her Alzheimer's. He stuck to his story through several lengthy interviews. However after much investigation, extensive lab work, and interviews with neighbors, the prosecutor put together a compelling circumstantial evidence case and conducted an aggressive cross-examination of the defendant. Although he never admitted his guilt and continued to claim she drank the antifreeze because of her disease, the jury found him guilty of first-degree murder with a special circumstance of poison. He will spend the rest of his golden years in prison.

Welfare Fraud

• In one case of welfare fraud, the defendant received cash aid and food stamps while failing to report the $29,000 in support payments she was receiving from her ex-husband. She confessed; but then she claimed that her statement was coerced because she was taken into a small room with no windows and was threatened by agents with guns. The defense attorney has filed many motions, but this case will eventually go to trial.

Insurance Fraud

• In one case the defendant husband drove his van to Tijuana and left it at the house of a friend. He then had his wife and daughter report it as a stolen vehicle. The case broke when a Tijuana police officer saw the van parked at the friends' home, ran the plate, and the report came back that it was stolen. He then talked to the friend, an elderly woman who was upset that he had brought a stolen car to her house. When she cooperated and agreed to testify that the defendant left the car at her house, the defendant pled guilty.

Environmental Crimes

• In the case of People v. Fieldstone, this large developer in the Corona area had taken 600 loads of dirt contaminated with DDT to the Colton landfill. They had tried to reduce the percentage of contamination by mixing it with clean dirt, but that is an improper method. And the dirt still exceeded the legal limits of concentration. In a settlement, Fieldstone was required to re-process the dirt at the dump to remove the DDT as well as to pay Riverside County $900,000 in fines.

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