I like “I told you so’s” even to my friends. Former San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus got an “I told you so” from me yesterday.
Up until yesterday, Superior Court Judge Micheal Dest seemed to be doing the “right thing” during the hearings for the corruption defendants, at least in comparison to Judge Duke Rouse, who has been doing anything but the “right thing.” But I spent two years working for the little man and tried to tell Bill and Jim that Dest would do what is best for Dest politically.
Dest did the right thing in terms of appointing a public defender for Postmus. Postmus did not receive any special treatment. The appointment was based on his ability to pay now, not what he earned in the past. That is no different standard than any one of us would face.
However, this is Bill Postmus we are talking about. And like Jim Erwin, Mark Kirk, Paul Biane, Jeff Burum, Dan Richards, Patrick O’Reilly, Rex Gutierrez, Dino DiFazio, and Greg Eyler, Bill has been the subject of a lot of lies and misinformation put forth by the District Attorney’s Office. I am not going to defend the drug situation, but I will defend every other charge. Nothing has been proven but the public thinks each one of these men is a crook of the worst kind. And that is based on a campaign of defamation against each of them led by District Attorney Mike Ramos.
Once Postmus’ legal situation was revealed in the newspapers, it was no surprise that members of the public were outraged by the appointment of a public defender. A majority of the public has no clue what goes on in the legal process. They base their opinions on what they read in what has become a less-than-factual mainstream media.
So, knowing Judge Dest as well as I do, it is also no surprise that he jumped on Postmus yesterday. Dest cares about one thing, and one thing only, and that is being re-elected. As with some other members of the San Bernardino County bench, justice be damned. Public perception rules. Fortunately, the cases won’t be in Dest’s courtroom much longer.
I really had a lot more faith in the local system, but I have lost it in recent months.
Just connect the dots and follow the campaign donations, it tells a story.
Some of these Judges actions and comments are obvious and insulting to us who have worked within the system.
Ramos has drug his feet on all these cases even though most of the defendants are ready for trial.
I would have at least expected the Judges to admonish the DA on some of these delays, nothing less than a showboat affair with a clear political agenda.
Who in their right mind would pick a conflict panel attorney after all that campaign contribution crap came out.
Even now, who can a defendant trust at the Public Defenders office?
I know there are some good people there, but will Boxer whisper in a Deputy Public Defenders ear and tell them to downplay the case as a favor to Ramos or suffer the rath?
It is becoming obvious if your paying attention.
Throw the bums out (period)
ACU, I am amazed that you have only recently lost faith in our “justice” system. Even without the bs in San Bernardino County, which is extreme even for the court system, I’m sure that you have observed judges that have ruled their courtrooms like a lord once ruled their manors. I have seen, and heard, judges question why a man moved to California without a solid job offer and insinuated the move was to collect welfare payments, when in point of fact the job he came out here for was a bogus offer from an unethical employer. Of course that explanation did not deter the judge from humiliating the man in open court. I have also seen a judge order a man taken into custody for having the audacity to wear flip-flops in his courtroom. Dest’s attitude toward Mr. Postmus does not surprise me. In fact, it would have surprised me if he had shown the common decency of asking why Mr. Postmus had a problem with the appointment of a “conflict” attorney. I really wonder if this “courtroom attitude” was what the founders anticipated when they made the judicial branch independent of the executive and legislative branches. Combine the judicial attitude and the apathy of the “regular” San Bernardino County juror, and hopefully you can see why I do not share Sharon’s optimism that these corruption cases will actually be decided by facts. And the apathy of the voter is also why I believe that Ramos, Biane, Ovitt, and the rest of the incumbents throughout the county will all win their races. Go ahead, call me Gloomy Gus, and hopefully I will be proven wrong.
Trial should be moved to a neutral county like Kern County so we can have fair and impartial justice.
Alan the only reason I had not lost faith sooner was from some cases I have seen first hand.
But I will not argue with the rest of your comments because I can’t. As you know I like to argue.
Good idea Matt, but we know that is not going to happen either. Ramos would not tolerate loosing control of his agenda.
Alan we can only hope the jury sees through the smokescreen and makes a judgement accordingly.
I do believe if the jurors feel they are being mislead by the DA, the DA will suffer a NOT GUILTY verdict.
And if Ramos is re-elected DA, and looses these cases, I’d run to the first petition I could sign seeking his recall as DA.