Orange County prosecutors are urging a judge not to conduct an evidentiary hearing on allegations that a former high-level district attorney’s official hid evidence in a murder case and covered up the illegal use of jailhouse informants by law enforcement.
In a court motion, Senior Deputy District Attorney Seton Hunt said the extensive allegations against former Senior Assistant District Attorney Ebrahim Baytieh — now an elected Orange County judge — were “conjecture” and “unsupported conclusions.”
The allegations were made by Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders during retrial proceedings against Paul Gentile Smith, who is accused of killing and burning the body of a childhood friend and marijuana dealer in Sunset Beach. Smith was initially convicted in 2010 and sentenced to life without parole. But the conviction was overturned in 2021 partly because Baytieh did not turn over evidence that might have helped Smith’s defense.
Smith’s pending retrial was transferred in October to San Diego County Superior Court Judge Daniel Goldstein after Sanders accused Baytieh of “outrageous government conduct” and sought to have the murder charge dismissed.
Prosecutors said that whether Baytieh withheld evidence or was guilty of other allegations lodged by Sanders is irrelevant because Smith has already been granted a new trial and no evidence from jailhouse informants will be used this time.
“We have already agreed to the only remedies that exist for this injustice,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “The dismissal of a murder case involving the heinous torture inflicted on this victim would be unconscionable.”
Hunt’s motion added that Baytieh’s conduct in the previous trial doesn’t matter in the current case.
“The relevant inquiry is whether Defendant can receive a fair re-trial, not if the prior trial prosecutor was a ‘bad guy,’ ” Hunt wrote. “This is not the appropriate venue for resolving what appears…
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