Yesterday’s arrest of former San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus was not much of a surprise to anyone close to this case. What was more of a surprise was how blatantly the San Bernardino County Public Integrity Unit (PIU) went out of their way to keep from having to present their case at the preliminary hearing.
The first trick up Deputy District Attorney Lewis Cope’s sleeve was to present the defense with “new” evidence from with the previous 48 hours. Well that was the story. But the story changed. Here is the new story according to the Sun:
Prosecutor Lewis Cope expressed disappointment Thursday that he was unable to proceed with the preliminary hearing.
The new report provided to defense attorneys, Cope said, will not change the way he plans to present his case.
“It’s unfortunate in this case that the timing worked out this way, because we would have liked to have moved forward,” Cope said.
The hearing was postponed until September 23, 2010, giving the district attorney more time to investigate the same old stuff even more. But that’s not what they said, you say. And you would be quite gullible if you believe what Cope claimed. His actions yesterday spoke much louder than anything he stated.
As was said above, the District Attorney’s office originally claimed they had new evidence. So what was this “new” evidence that was turned over to defense counsel? The “evidence” was a summary of an interview with our favorite yellow singing Canary, Mr. Max Factor himself, Adam Aleman, about Postmus’ love life.
The evidence has no bearing on the case and was only meant to embarrass Postmus. Only someone such as Cope, a devout Mormon, would consider homosexuality to be a crime or use it as a method to embarrass a defendant. Well, okay, he’s not the only one in the Ramos camp to have issues with gays. And they know anti-gay rhetoric plays well in the court of public opinion. This only shows bigotry is alive and well in the District Attorney’s office. Too bad Cope doesn’t apply his Morman standards to his boss. I thought sex with dozens of women . . ..
So, was Cope saying this interview took place in the 48 hours prior to the hearing or was he saying they decided to wait to turn over until the prelim? The latter is the truth of course.
As a matter of fact, as I write this, a writ is being prepared over discovery issues in the corruption cases. The members of the San Bernardino County Superior Court bench seem to have forgotten all they learned in Discovery 101 and need some help from the Court of Appeal to regain their memories.
Counsel for the defense has another little trick up its sleeve that makes me smile. We will let the District Attorney’s office wonder what that might be for a while longer. Hint: Ya might wanna read up on recent case law. We’d like to think ya didn’t all go to the Ruth Stringer school of legal research.
In the same vein, it seems Cope, et al., apparently joined Ramos and Stringer in playing hookie from Complaint Writing 101. The Second Amended Complaint is as vague as the First Amended Complaint which is as vague as the original complaint. None of them put forth the evidence to show a crime may have been committed. Yet another demurrer is being prepared.
So how many amended complaints must there be before these legal Beagles can get it right? Well, since no crime took place, it will be interesting to see how much our county’s crack(ed) legal team will take this before they give up in embarrassment. One would think the Attorney General’s office would be a little more prideful in their work product, but apparently Melissa Mandel is no better of a trial attorney than her San Bernardino County counterparts.
But we have digressed to one of our favorite activities and that is bashing our county’s legal “experts.” Let’s get back to yesterday’s events.
Within hours of yesterday’s arrest of former San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus, volumes were written about his pending demise. And that is exactly what the San Bernardino County District Attorney was hoping for. What is interesting is that I actually noticed tinges of “smelling a rat” in the reporting by mainstream media. Here are are few points about yesterday’s arrest. It should be noted that none of this came from Bill.
The papers reported that the arrest was made by the Sheriff’s Department Court Services Division. What they failed to mention is that there were several members of the PIU in the courtroom suggesting to the bailiffs that Bill be checked for drugs.
It is very common for defendants to show up to court under the influence. I know. I worked there for six years and saw it daily. Not that many defendants are taken into custody. What happened yesterday was a bit unusual. But what was even more unusual is the fact that the arrest took place before the hearing.
Normally, unless the defendant is so out of it that they are not coherent, the hearing will take place and then an arrest made if necessary. Bill was far from out of it. If there were drugs in his system, they were not from that morning.
Court calendars are so crowded that judges try to keep cases moving whenever possibly, especially when there are time waiver issues as there are in this case. It was obvious yesterday the District Attorney was not prepared to move along with the case.
What was more obvious as the day progressed was that the PIU had a preconceived plan in place to stop the prelim by taking Bill into custody. Bill has a drug problem and played right into their hands. We agree. The point is what happened yesterday is far from standard operating procedure.
In addition to what happened in the courtroom, the orchestration of the arrest became more clear with their actions once the arrest was made. The offense took place in the city of San Bernardino. It was a two-bit drug charge. No agency spends the kind of money and allocates the resources that were allocated yesterday on a possession charge.
From what I understand at least five investigators and one evidence technician were tied up for most of the day guarding Bill’s vehicle, obtaining a search warrant, and searching the vehicle. This being done for a petty misdemeanor by the District Attorney’s Office rather than the police department is highly unusual.
The search, which should take no longer than 30 minutes, lasted two hours. They not only looked for drugs, but anything regarding the corruption scandal. Some of the previous search warrants are likely to be thrown out when these cases go to trial and evidence, if any was found, from this search is highly susceptible to “fruit of the poisonous tree” arguments.
The bottom line is that PIU investigators involved themselves in an arrest and investigation they should have not been involved with, tying up thousands of dollars in manpower and resources for what? Well, the answer is two-fold.
First, we knew there would be retribution when the Ristow lawsuit hit. Mikey does something each and every time to deflect from facing negative press. Despite what Mikey says, there are five sworn declarations in the possession of Ristow’s attorney from Mikey’s employees that implicate Mikey in one or more felonies. They will be made public when Jim Reiss is ready to make them public.
Second, the Attorney General’s office has been putting pressure on Mikey, as outlined on www.InlandPolitics.com, to produce that “crime of the century” he promised. What is sad, is that we have already had one suicide in connection with Mikey’s handling of this investigation and many close to Bill feel Mikey is trying to push him over the edge as well.
We don’t disagree that Bill is responsible for is own actions. At the same time, Bill is being treated differently than others who commit similar offenses. Fortunately, the issue of selective prosecution is being explored by the feds. We only hope it is concluded before there is another casualty. And we hope that not only Mikey and Moonbeam are held responsible, but the judges who have gone along with Mikey’s wrongdoing find themselves in as much hot water as he will be. Maybe they can all share a federal jail cell.
Bill Postmus and David Lewis has/had many similar personal demons. Mikey and Moonbeam each have their own political reasons for wanting to take out Jeff Burum. Mikey and Moonbeam have exploited the weakest links, Bill and David, in an effort to accomplish their political goals. It has already been deadly once. I wonder how many more might be lost before these two are stopped. They are this county’s greatest danger.
Your right. I lot of tax payer money was spent on a simple H&S under influence arrest. And just because he was under influence in the court room, what was the PC for a vehicle search?
Stretching it if you ask me……………
Mikey and Moonbeam are liberal scum bags. David, RIP and Bill, get the help you need to avoid it.
The searching of documents in the vehicle is highly circumspect. There was also an unpresedented search of a defense lawyer’s office a few months ago. Who were the judges who signed these warrants?
If the allegations that have been made about Ramos are accurate, the slow drip of revelation of his deeds has to be driving him crazy. Is he taking risks to find out what is documented on him?
President Nixon was obsessed with finding out what the Democrats knew about him taking illegal donations from the milk producers. So a crew went into their office at the Watergate Hotel to find out.
Two words, Ramos. Mark Felt.
As long as the judges get the extra cash from the BOS each month they will keep dancing to their tune….and that’s why Derry can’t get the votes to stop the judge’s extra cash. I feel for Postmus, it does seem he’s getting more attention than he deserves. So what if he’s gay, what does that have to do with anything here?
I can’t believe a low-life like Lewis Cope is a Mormon. I am ashamed to know there are people like him in my religion. I doubt he is a member in good standing. I know there are other Mormons working at the DA’s office and I can’t believe they are desperate enough to work for the self-proclaimed “Sex God,” Ramos. Come on, people, have some self respect and get a job you can feel good about. You can do better than that.
“Ok guys, BIll’s got us by the short hairs so lets just call all our witnesses and have them show up, regardless of the impact on their lives, bring over lots of meaningless files and paper that looks like we have a case, waste the time of a judge-we all know they have nothing better to do-and then put on a dog and pony show for the media by arresting the defendant on the concocted belief he is under the influence of meth”. Is that about it?
Unwilling I don’t often disagree with you, I won’t this time either.
But don’t you think this was quite the effort put forth for a misdemeanor pinch? I am wondering if anyone from the PIU was thinking they would get the big haul out of Postmus’s SUV while waiting for the search warrant?
Or were they hoping for at least a half a gram of meth to do another felony booking? Or would they have stretched it to a transportation case since his vehicle had Idaho plates?
What would have happened if Postmus was a witness in a case, who showed up for Court and he was still 1st District Supervisor, and say that Deputy pulled Postmus off to the side and checked him for under the influence?
Say the Deputy, ALL on his own found Postmus under the influence and arrested him while he was still a supervisor? Do you think the Deputy would have received kudos from the powers to be for his dillengence and powers of observation?
Maybe you haven’t seen this, but some in the County pull this stuff trying to bolster their original case because they know it’s a piece of crap from the get go.
Maybe someone should get an alcohol screening device and hang around the back door of the DA’s Office or 5th floor, and have certain people blow into the machine before starting work Monday morning.
Plenty of stories out there and eye witness confirmations that some of our beloved leaders hit the bottle as hard as Postmus hits the pipe.
The only difference between the bottle and the pipe is one is legal to use and posses. BOTH are abused. One get’s the NO TOLERANCE when no one likes you anymore, the other is ignored or explained away or quietly accepted in some circles.
I am sure if I followed your boss out of one of his favorite party spots and had him pinched by the CHP for DUI, all kinds of people would get pissed and retaliation would follow shortly there after.
Since you work at the DA’s office maybe you can tell us HOW often defendants are pulled off to the side and checked for under the influence and booked. I’d love to know.
I hope you understand my point.
Well put ACU. Unwilling..er I mean David Hidalgo, please tell us how often Mike Ramos, a known alcoholic, has shown up to almost any event deuce? I would love it if Redlands PD would sit out by the Tartan any given night and pull homeboy over for FST.
This is such B.S. I have written hundreds of search warrants and never for anything like this. The PIU look like idiots walking down the courthouse halls already, but this one tops it. The D.A. has already got serious problems with his last three years budget, or lack of. Hint, hint! Uuuuum. Anyway, how many man hours were spent on that search warrrant? My old group supervisor or AUSA would have chewed my ass out for that amount of wasted time. I guess the PIU does not have to worry about a budget. Someone told me that it didnt matter the other day, as the D.A. played it out in the media. Well, when is someone going to play out his budget overages here in the media? Hey Joe N. at what point do you guys get the story straight How about a headline, “County has money to waste on misdemeanor charges, again” (let alone, made up felony charges) The media is so stupid they are actionally telling the wrong story about Moonbeam and Bell, and about this story as well. Grand standing here, always grand standing over nothing. Bill’s arrest is a nothing story. The real story will be when the Feds show up, take badges and guns away and march these idots down to L.A. for booking. “out of control”. ACU is right again.
Okay let’s take into consideration of the two Riverside PD officers who pulled over their chief. Thank GOD it was on PVS (patrol video system) and had audio to support their documentation. Did you know the two Officers who stopped him were actually held under for IA and investigated because of their actions? However they were cleared of any wrong doings or mishandlings of this situation; and at the time the Chief even called his buddy the LT to try and get the officers to release their teeth from the incident….ugh “ALL HELL NO!” Why do you think this will never happen to DA Ramos? What happened to the 415 party at that Ramos had squashed not to long ago? How did that get dispo-ed? I’d really like to see how that was handled…”LETS SEE THE CALL HISTORY PLEASE!”
Amen insider!
Why does Postmus constantly get a pass on the blog for his misdeeds? Sure, you say you don’t like his drug use, but what about the totality of his conduct. He played the voters of this county for fools. He is an embarassment to the Republican party he claimed to represent, yet he is availed as a hero on the blog as he fights the evil Mike Ramos.
While I would agree that it was overkill to use several DA Investigators for a misdemeanor arrest, showing up for court while under the influence is a bonehead move to the 10th degree. Let’s call it like it is….Ramos and Postmus are both egotistical idiots.
“Eyes they have, and they see not.” ACU point taken but 550′s are often done with D’s that have a drug past-see drug court. And since when did Bronco Billy become less of a scum bag than Mikey? Postmus, and his lackeys took this County right back to the shameful status we have earned so often in the past. And he did it as a member of the ideological philosophy I hold dear. No tolerance is afforded this arrogant cretin! The bigger the example can be made of him the better! I want Paul, Rex, et.al. all held accountable to the greatest degree possible.
And then I want the PIU to actually do its job and go after the current crop of scum until we start getting the idea through that public service is not a means to a personal financial end!
Insider-Sharon, is that you?- nice try. See, I can do it too! But I would love to see Buerman have some of his boys scope out Mikey and get him 23152. “Hi, My name is Mikey and I’m an alcoholic. It’s been 5 days since my last drink….” Maybe Buerman already has popped him and he is saving that card for a later date?
Nope Unwilling, I am not Insider. I know exactly who Insider is because they use their real email address when posting. Insider IS an employee of the District Attorney’s office just like you. I have no clue who you might be other than you are a Deputy District Attorney, or at least that is what you have led us to believe, through your postings about being a member of the SBCPAA and not respecting the DPDs too much.
And that is what has always had me perplexed about some of your postings. You, unlike many of your colleagues, are obviously politically astute, not just with the criminal justice system in this county, but the county as a whole and many departments in particular. That leads me to believe you are not a grunt in the department.
However, at the same time, I don’t quite get your attitude about the Postmus/Erwin filings. Taking personal feelings away, suspicions that you have about what crooks they are, etc., I don’t understand how you can look at those complaints and expect anything to come of them. We will soon be on the Third Amended Complaint, which we don’t expect to be any better than the original, the first amendment or the second. The elements they are alleging are not backed up in the complaint. The complaints are deficient.
I’m not pulling this out of my ass. I have personally spoken to both prosecutors and criminal defense attorneys who have read the complaints line-by-line and say the matter cannot move forward as it is currently presented. From what I can tell you are an intelligent person and probably and excellent attorney, so what do you see that no one outside of Mikey’s inner circle can see? I don’t care how you feel about Postmus and Erwin, would you honestly write the complaints as written and expect convictions? I don’t get it Unwilling.
At this point Unwilling, THEY are all scumbags for various reasons. I just wanted to make that point because I can, but most of all because I’ve seen this game before. NOT the bigger hitters though.
You get no argument from me on the other points you have made.
Caldwell, not Gilbert Sorry. Where was the demurrer Sharon? The overall political picture in this County and Country for that matter is evidence enough for me, that virtually ever politician in an office higher than school board needs to be replaced. If Mike has to get dirty, something I don’t beleive is happening to the extent that has been purported here, to get every scum ball currently in office, so be it. We are at a crossroads in this Country, where we are going to have our individual freedoms sold down the river to the extent they are irretrievably gone, unless some sort of revolutionary stance is fronted. When are you all willing to throw that gauntlet down and do what needs to be done. Let’s start installing the pikes at the entrances to our city gates and began the task of mounting the heads. Lofty talk I know, but the writing is on the wall.
I, too do not understand the unwaivering support this blog has for Bronco Billy and his crew, Jim, and Paul!
Postmus started down this slippery slope to full fledge corruption/felon status when he was on the 5th floor (And Metzfeldt, Nowiki, etc. [my spelling is atrocious] were right there with him using his name). Now Supervisor Brad swears he knew nothing? Really?? Previous personal experience in SBC Departmentland provided witnessed to the orders…further Uffer knew and enabled Bill with his drug issues by connecting him with contacts at the med ctr…( Bill said he had back problems and was out of pain meds…) so my point is, this drug situation is not new…why is anyone surprised that he might be in court under the influence? (It was an over-kill with the PIU and the officers standing guard around the vehicle, search and all….)
But, back to Bill….Bill thought that if he became Assessor he wouldn’t be required to make so many public appearances (which were becoming harder and harder to make due to his drug habit) and he would be able to continue his Young Republicans political work under the cover of a full time elected postion. Yes, he swindeled the voters and citizens of this County!!! Also, while doing his political work, he used his position as assessor to assist his cronies with favorable reassessments of their properties and went on pure personal vendetta’s against those he hated…(I can not name them because it would only cause them more pain! But it has cost them nearly 1/2 a million dollars over the last 4 years!)
I feel that payment is due for the actions of these officials…there are consequences for actions and jail time is warranted.
Administrator, I respect your opinion, but I cannot agree with your position. Right and Wrong is very specific and misuse of county funds, personnel, equipment and other resources is WRONG…there is no gray area….using illegal drugs is WRONG…there is no gray area there…taking anything (bribes) for making favorable decisions is WRONG…there is no gray area there…
I agree with Sharon. How can you prosecute someone when astute prosecutors and defense attorneys agree that the complaint does not state a charge. The judge is only human and I trust Sharon’s legal friends more. Does the constitution apply in San Bernardino?
Unwilling,
One Demurrer has already been filed and the next will be filed on the Second Amended Complaint. The DA did little to change the defects in the First Amended Complaint so I doubt the Demurrer is too far off.
Now to your quote, which is kinda scary coming from a Deputy DA. You wrote:
“If Mike has to get dirty, something I don’t believe is happening to the extent that has been purported here, to get every scum ball currently in office, so be it. We are at a crossroads in this Country, where we are going to have our individual freedoms sold down the river to the extent they are irretrievably gone, unless some sort of revolutionary stance is fronted.”
You don’t see that bypassing due process and various other Constitutional guarantees IS selling our individual freedoms down the river. We do not have to worry about Alcada or Muslim influence or anything else from the outside undoing America. We are doing it to ourselves by allowing our government to erode the basic guarantees of the Constitution of the United States.
If Jim, Bill, and the rest are guilty of a crime, so be it. But it is not up to the chief law enforcement officers of the county to manipulate the system to get a desired outcome. It is up to them to enforce the law. Anything less makes them as much criminals as those they prosecute.
On a side note, obviously I cannot report everything I know here on the blog, but the FBI has committed substantial overt acts to gather information on Mikey regarding selective prosecution and evidence of at least one felony. We know this from multiple first-hand accounts in the past two weeks. In this county it is just not possible to do such things unnoticed. Yet it seems that Mikey continues in denial that the FBI is even investigating him. Are there no rumors in your office? No chatter around the water cooler? Is Mikey so in denial that he thinks if he ignores it, it will somehow go away? Or does he figure he will get in as many punches as he can before they take him down? I’m pretty astounded at his cavalier approach to things these days.
Try comparing my statement to the overt acts of defense bar, and most politicians in office. Then put it into 30 years of California going down the tubes. When the revolutionary war was fought, the laws of England were ignored, much like the current laws on the books preventing all the actions we complain about on this blog. OJ may have been an anomaly, but faced with jurors that rarely understand their burden(or even the evidence presented) , judges that worry more about being appealed than imposing a just ruling, and legislators that stack laws upon meaningless laws in the name of personal gain or some inane sense of duty, the legal profession has, in it’s purest form, become a joke. You limited exposure has given you an armchair quarterbacks view of the system. I can understand your consternation with my statements but I do not throw those feelings about lightly. Revolution is at hand.
Each demurrer will require the DA to do some more work. What do the DDAs not understand about the rule of law? The goal is justice and the truth, working within existing laws. The constitutional right to due process, notice of charges and understable complaint allegations are being disregarded in this County. We need more media who actually understand the law. How about a headling: “Court Tells DA Allegations are to Vague and Ambiguous.” Then our favorite editor could write: “These charges and complaint languge are so confusing, even I can’t figure them out.”
Sharon, you also need to give yourself more credit. Since you were a court clerk for six years, if you can’t figure them out, how can the Defendants properly mount a defense? Has it come to the point in this county that judges allow such vague allegations to stand and just assume that the jurrors will go along with the government because, of course, it is the DA prosecuting?
I finally understand, unwilling. All of the womanizing of Mike Ramos is just because, in his revolutionary zeal, he is trying to live up to his hero, Benjamin Franklin!
Now, in any good revolution, one needs to have a new governing body prepared and a new set of principles on which to govern. Can you descibe these for us?
How did John Lennon put it?
You say you want a revolution, well you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me its the institution, well you know
You better free your mind instead
Hang tuff with Mikey, because as as Benjamin Franklin said, “If we don’t all hang together, we will certainly all hang separately.
ACU correct me if I am wrong but didn’t the Sheriff’s Department have a deputy assigned to Victorville arrested for some type of theft, under $500.00, and would only take a felony guilty plea. Wonder how much money was spent on that issue.
But we will let Gray pay back thousands of dollars, keep his wife employed and then deny that anyone else was involved in the POST issue.
Senor there was a Deputy at Victorville a couple years ago that was involved in a theft and was prosecuted. I am not sure what the dispo was. BUT I do know they handled that case in a much different way than the POST scandal. The Sheriff’s administration was very aggressive towards this Deputy. Fired and prosecuted.
But then you have another case out of Victorville where a Deputy was involved in a theft and lied about certain aspects of it when confronted. That Deputy was allowed to continue on with the Department in the capacity as an SSS. Go figure.
You can use Victorville as the comparision to all other issues discussed here and forget about everything else, and have months of discussion.
I hear Lieutenant Herbert and Captain Raynolds are really setting the standards these days investigating EVERY little complaint against employees. It could be a baseless complaint and it is being investigated. But as you all know Herbert tried to cover up the major accident involving cops and a DUI issue. I guess the Sergeants are very busy these days doing investigations.
BUT when and if it comes to one of Cliff Raynolds children it will be covered up or ignored, and that would include that Captains friends within the community.ESPECIALLY his pals.
I hear there is a Deputy Sheriff suing a school official in small claims court for liable and slander. Seems the school official was caught in a lie during a administrative investigation. The Deputy was cleared of wrong doing and decided to sue the official for his lie. GOOD for them.
CAN YOU believe that Captain Raynolds has some heart burn with the Deputy exercising his right to bring an action against someone who lied in a complaint against him?? JUST like Raynolds to put someone through the ringer and then expect them to accept the bullshit that should have never happened in the first place.
Fear not Raynolds and Sheriff Hoops, a serious surprise awaits you both, on how you pick and choose how to handle these cases, including the POST scandal.
If and when it happens, it will be reported in as much detail as possible here at iepolitics.
The only serious changes I see in the administration of the Sheriff’s Department is more than a few Sergeants are getting thrown under the bus these days. The exception to that would be if your last name is Onadero.
A return to first principles in a republic is sometimes caused by the simple virtues of one man. His good example has such an influence that the good men strive to imitate him, and the wicked are ashamed to lead a life so contrary to his example.
The answers to understanding most of the questions you folks ask were written long ago…..
Regarding water cooler talk, are we discissing real life or the tv show the Good Wife?… cause I am lost.