OCDA Spitzer Accused Of Violating Racial Justice Act In Murder Case

SANTA ANA, CA — Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer's office is facing another motion alleging he violated the new Racial Justice Act law stemming from his comments while considering the death penalty in a Newport Beach double-murder case.

Gregory Anthony Walker and Giovanni Solomon Guy are charged with the May 8, 2019, killing of 32-year-old Nga Ngoc Nguyen of Santa Ana in a purse-snatching turned deadly in Garden Grove. Co-defendant Brad Maurice Brown Jr. of Hawthorne pleaded guilty to robbery in 2019 and was sentenced to five years in prison. All of the defendants in the case are Black.

Attorney David E. Swanson, who represents Walker, filed a Racial Justice Act violation motion last week alleging that Spitzer's racially charged comments while weighing the pursuit of the death penalty for convicted double- murderer Jamon Buggs showed an unfair bias in the prosecution of Black defendants. Guy's attorney, James Blatt, joined the motion, according to court records.

Swanson argued that security video showed no weapons were used in the purse snatching.

"It is clear from the recorded video... that the victim was accidentally run over during the perpetrators' escape from the scene of the robbery, purse snatching," Swanson wrote in the motion. "The only reasonable conclusion is the death in this case was unintended and was an accident."

Swanson noted Spitzer personally made an appearance on the case at the May 10, 2019, arraignment "to assure his Orange County political base that he was there to send a message that he was not going to let Orange County be invaded by residents of Los Angeles County."

Swanson added that "curiously," now-retired Senior Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy joined Spitzer in court as part of the prosecution team. Murphy, while in private practice, filed court papers in the Buggs case alleging Spitzer attempted to cover up his controversial comments, which Spitzer has denied.

"Murphy has subsequently accused his former boss ... of perpetrating a fraud on the court to cover that he is a racist," Swanson said, adding that the judge in the Buggs trial -- now-retired Orange County Superior Court Judge Gregg Prickett -- found Spitzer had violated the Racial Justice Act.

"The irony should not be lost here as Spitzer apparently had Murphy accompany him to Walker's arraignment because Murphy was his No. 1 media star at the time, and he was hoping to attract media coverage that day," Swanson wrote. "He made sure the voters of Orange County clearly understood what he stands for by labeling his campaign #NoLAinOC. The campaign slogan was Orange County District Attorney Spitzer's dog whistle (to) the voters that he would stop Blacks from Los Angeles from coming to Orange County to commit crime."

Walker and Guy are charged with murder, with a special circumstance allegation of murder during the course of a robbery. They also face sentencing enhancements for committing an offense while out on bail.

Guy was allegedly the wheelman and Walker is accused of snatching the victim's purse, according to police.

Nguyen was walking with her sister in a parking lot at 13800 Brookhurst Blvd. about 9:45 a.m. May 8, 2019, when a car pulled alongside them and Walker allegedly tried to wrestle away the victim's purse, police said.

But Nguyen's arm got caught up in the strap as Walker jumped into the getaway car as it was rolling away and she was run over, police said.

The victim was first dragged by the car and after "a short distance the victim became separated from the purse and fell to the ground, at which point Walker pulled the purse into the vehicle and shut the door," Senior Deputy District Attorney Keith Burke wrote opposing Swanson's motion. "Guy continued to accelerate from the scene, and in the process ran over the victim's head, killing her."

Walker was already facing charges of burglary and grand theft at the time. The suspects were under surveillance at the time of the purse snatching by Los Angeles County sheriff's detectives, who trailed them and called Garden Grove police for help, police said. Walker and Guy were also accused in a September 2018 robbery in a Los Angeles County parking garage, Burke wrote.

Burke rejected Swanson's contention Walker and Guy were being held to a racially motivated double standard. Burke said the defense attorney failed to show the two were facing more serious charges because of their race.

Burke noted that Spitzer chose to pursue life in prison without the possibility of parole rather than the death penalty in the case. Burke added that the defendants were held to answer to the special circumstances allegations following a preliminary hearing and that ruling shows a judge found probable cause they committed the alleged crimes.

Burke noted that Prickett declined to reduce charges or dismiss the case against Buggs because of the heinous nature of the double murder.

Prickett "in fact imposed both gun use enhancements consecutive to the LWOP sentence defendant received for each murder, and then ran the sentence imposed as to each murder consecutive to the other," Burke wrote. "The court also expressed its believe that defendant should never be paroled, even if he were to somehow become eligible. Given the court's observations during sentencing and the sentence it ultimately imposed, there is plainly nothing about the facts and circumstances of the Buggs case to suggest that defendant Buggs was prosecuted more aggressively based upon his race, and the Buggs prosecution therefore does not support defendants' ... claim."

The comments Spitzer made in the Buggs case included an observation he said he made in college that some Black men date white women to heighten their status. Spitzer has defended his comment, saying he was raising the issue of mistaken identity in many cases due to racial bias which has led to the overturning of convictions.

In the Buggs case, Buggs who is Black, was stalking his ex-girlfriend, who is white, and a boyfriend as well as one of the murder victims, who he falsely believed was dating his ex-girlfriend. He ended up also shooting a woman with the man, who was also white but was not his ex-girlfriend. Prickett said at sentencing that it was highly unlikely that Buggs mistook the woman for his ex-girlfriend as he was looking right at her when he shot her.

"Most importantly, there is nothing about Spitzer's comments in the Buggs prosecution to indicate he has a desire to prosecute Black defendants more aggressively than members of other races, and the Buggs court never concluded as much," Burke argued.

Prickett did make it clear during the sentencing of Buggs that he found Spitzer violated the Racial Justice Act, but said he did not believe there was a remedy appropriate to levy in the case. The issue was never litigated as Buggs demanded trial and refused any postponement of the trial to seek an evidentiary hearing on the issue.

Burke argued that Swanson's characterization of Spitzer's campaign slogan as a racial dog whistle "is telling -- it is an implicit concession that there is nothing about the slogan itself that indicates racial bias. Worse for defendants, their claim is baseless and readily refuted by the public record."

Burke argued that Spitzer's campaign theme was a criticism of the policies of Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón and to portray his Democratic rival in Orange County as cut from the same cloth.

Burke also discounted Swanson's reliance on a report from professor Nick Peterson that Black defendants are statistically more likely to face special circumstances allegations than white defendants. Burke noted that the same report was used in another Racial Justice Act claim in a separate murder trial and was rejected.

City News Service