Topline:
An Orange County public defender alleges in a new court filing that Superior Court Judge Brahim Baytieh led a criminal conspiracy to cover up police misconduct and withhold evidence in a murder case when he was a high-ranking prosecutor. The attorney says the evidence could affect the outcome of more than 100 criminal cases, including at least 45 murder cases.
A new chapter in the OC snitch scandal? Scott Sanders, the public defender behind the filing, is responsible for uncovering the historical, widespread misuse of confidential informants among O.C. law enforcement, commonly known as the "snitch scandal."
Several high-profile murder cases were upended when the illegalities first came to light, including the 2011 killing of eight people at a Seal Beach salon, the deadliest mass shooting in county history.
Sanders' new 424-page court filing alleges that Baytieh and several current and former O.C. sheriff’s deputies tried to cover up the illegalities and, in Baytieh's case, lied to federal investigators about it.
"These individuals should all be in a federal prison," Sanders told LAist. "If you conceal evidence from a defendant at this level for more than a decade, and then you cause violations of rights of nearly a hundred defendants, where should you be?"
Baytieh and the sheriff’s deputies’ union haven’t responded to LAist’s requests for comment. The Sheriff’s Department declined to comment.
Who is Judge Baytieh? Baytieh was a high-ranking prosecutor in the O.C. District Attorney's Office until he got fired in February 2022 after an internal investigation found he had withheld evidence in a murder case (the new court filing is related to the same case).
Despite his dismissal, Baytieh was elected to the O.C. Superior Court in 2022 with the endorsement of O.C. Sheriff Don Barnes and dozens of judges, law enforcement leaders and attorneys.
He is currently slated to oversee Orange County’s upcoming CARE Court, which will prescribe treatment plans for people with severe mental illnesses.
(LAist reached out to Baytieh and others implicated in the filing and will update the story with responses.)
A prominent Orange County judge is facing scathing new allegations that he led a criminal conspiracy to cover up police misconduct and withhold evidence in a murder case when he was a high-ranking prosecutor.
The allegations against O.C. Superior Court Judge Ebrahim Baytieh came in a 424-page court motion filed Thursday by Scott Sanders, the assistant public defender who uncovered one of the biggest law enforcement scandals of the past decade, known colloquially as the “O.C. jailhouse snitch scandal.”
"This is criminal conduct, despicable conduct," Sanders told LAist.
"These folks," Sanders said, referring to Baytieh and the team of sheriff's officials on the case, "destroyed the opportunity for defendants to have fair trials."
Sanders said the evidence reveals that Baytieh — despite being lauded for his ethics at the district attorney's office and charged with deciding what evidence prosecutors should disclose across the department — was in fact among the worst offenders in the jailhouse snitch scandal.
Sanders also said the evidence could taint more than 100 criminal cases — including at least 45 murder cases — in which he says Baytieh should have notified defendants about the alleged misuse of jailhouse informants and the law enforcement officers involved in it.
Baytieh didn't pick up his cell phone in response to a call from LAist and hasn’t returned text messages asking for comment.
In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson for Orange County Superior Court said the court and judicial officers are prohibited by ethical rules from discussing active cases.
A spokesperson for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department declined to comment on Sanders’ allegations that several of its deputies were involved in a criminal cover-up led by Baytieh.
[Click here to read the full court filing.]
A murder conviction overturned
Sanders' court filing seeks to dismiss murder charges against Paul Gentile Smith for allegedly stabbing Robert Haugen to death and setting his body on fire in Haugen's Sunset Beach apartment in 1988.
Baytieh prosecuted the case, and Smith was convicted of murder in 2010.
But in 2021, a judge threw out the conviction and ordered a new trial for Smith after sheriff's deputies refused to testify about their use of informants in the case. O.C. District Attorney Todd Spitzer said at the time that Baytieh had failed to turn over informant evidence that prosecutors are legally required to disclose to the defense.
In Sanders' new court filing, he alleges that Baytieh hid evidence — including recordings — showing sheriff's officials illegally sent two jailhouse informants to question Smith about his murder case.
The prosecution team, under Baytieh, then “conspired to make it appear through misleading testimony” that neither of the men were informants, according to Sanders.
Also, the motion alleges, Baytieh hid a jail phone call recording of the defendant that “was inconsistent with the defendant having ever admitted to any informant that he committed the murder.”
Sanders alleges Baytieh led a criminal conspiracy involving three former sheriff’s officials — two sergeants and an investigator — to deprive Smith of his constitutional rights.
“The misconduct paved the way for Smith’s conviction,” Sanders wrote.
Who is Judge Baytieh?
Baytieh previously was a high-ranking prosecutor at the DA’s office. In 2012, he was named “Outstanding Prosecutor of the Year” by the statewide district attorneys association.
As the jailhouse snitch scandal was unfolding some years later, Baytieh repeatedly denied the misconduct in public speeches and news interviews.
In Sanders' new court filing, he alleges that Baytieh also lied about his knowledge of misconduct to investigators from the U.S. Department of Justice when they interviewed Baytieh during their civil rights probe into the misuse of confidential informants in O.C.
Sanders said Baytieh went into his 2019 interview with the DOJ "committed to not having anybody figure out about all this concealed evidence."
Baytieh was eventually fired by O.C. District Attorney Todd Spitzer in February 2022 over alleged misconduct in the Smith murder case, the same case in which Sanders is alleging additional wrongdoing. Baytieh’s firing came after he had accused Spitzer of making racially tinged remarks in the case of a Black man charged with a double murder.
Spitzer's office declined to comment on Sanders' new allegations about Baytieh. Instead, a spokesperson re-sent a 2022 statement, issued when Baytieh was fired, in which Spitzer says prosecutors in his office "will not violate the Constitution and the rights of defendants in order to get convictions."
After Baytieh was fired, he won election to the O.C. Superior Court in June 2022, with endorsements from dozens of current and former O.C. judges and law enforcement leaders.
Baytieh is now slated to oversee Orange County’s upcoming CARE Court, which will prescribe treatment plans for people with severe mental illnesses.
Dozens of criminal cases could be affected
In his motion, Sanders wrote that he’s identified 98 other criminal cases in which Baytieh violated his duty to disclose evidence — known as Brady obligations. "But there are certainly many more [cases]," Sanders told LAist, that have yet to be identified.
Among the cases Sanders notes in his filing are 45 murder cases.
Sanders wrote that Baytieh had an obligation to disclose misconduct evidence from the Smith case so that defendants in other cases could call into question "the credibility of the seven law enforcement members from the Smith prosecution team” when they were called to testify in those other cases, or challenge the admissibility of testimony from jailhouse informants who illegally gathered evidence.
“Baytieh will soon be recognized as the principal architect of an evidence disclosure disaster unlike any other in this nation’s history,” Sanders wrote in his motion.
Sanders said he hopes California's Commission on Judicial Performance will look into Baytieh and determine whether he's fit to continue serving as a judge. And he went a step further, calling for prison sentences.
"If you don't punish this, if you don't stop this," Sanders said, "it just sends this horrendous message to everyone that there's absolutely no accountability for people in power."
UPDATED SEPT. 8, 2023 AT 11:17 AM PDT
This story was updated to include a response from the spokesperson for Orange County Superior Court.
