Sticking up for the District Attorney
Dennis Peterson, senior deputy district attorney for Fresno County, takes me task for saying in my May 30, 2006 column that District Attorney Elizabeth Egan should have used the Terry Pettis trial to shine a light on problems within the Fresno State basketball program when Ray Lopes was coach.
"I don't know much about the Pettis case except what I read in the newspaper although I am a Senior Deputy District Attorney assigned to the homicide team," writes Peterson in an e-mail.
" What I am clear about is how a prosecutor goes about presenting a case and the rules of evidence that limit the scope of what is admissible. Perhaps you don't understand these limits or what goes into a good prosecution case. I tried the Ara Arax case and of course, many topics addressed by Mark Arax in his book were never addressed or even touched upon in that trial because they weren't relevant to the case at hand.
"Quite simply, a prosecutor (trial attorney) needs to present a clean simple case and when a prosecuting attorney unnecessarily complicates matters, he/she flirts with disaster.
"One more comment: Beth Egan doesn't (nor should she) direct prosecutions to wider matters that don't reflect on the guilt or innocence of accused defendants -- and thank God for allowing us trial attorneys to do our jobs without respect to popular political sentiments."
Fair enough, but the District Attorney could call a news conference after Pettis is sentenced and reveal facts uncovered by investigators into Pettis' murder of Rene Abbott -- specifically the actions of Fresno State coaches and other school employees in the aftermath of the shooting. This would serve the community and leverage taxpayers' dollars spent on the Pettis' investigation.
Comments:
For quite some time I have been reporting the facts behind an unsolved murder (shot in cold blood) being covered up, suspected homicide, ID theft, real estate fraud and more behind felony altering of the city water system. The group behind this is ruthless in clearing property in order to carry this out. As the alterations take place, great effort goes into covering up records, altering aerial views, maps, directories, etc.
Ara Arax's bar was located on Weber, where heavy equipment was tearing up the street in the early 70s; the ponding basin on McKinley + Weber was also enlarged. The fact that records have been altered to make it appear that things were always this way may be a clue to more than meets the eye.
Posted by: Marla at July 13, 2008 12:43 PM
Perhaps I can be of assistance with the Ara Arax case? Including why there was never any help or answers.
http://marlalk.wordpress.com/2008/08/19/open-letter-to-mark-arax-fresno-ca/
Posted by: Marla at August 22, 2008 1:20 PM
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