NPR

Orange County Sheriff's Department Kept Evidence Scandal A Secret For Nearly 2 Years

Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders suggested that prosecutors covered for law enforcement, helping to keep systematic mishandling of evidence out of public view. "The implications are massive."
Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes, pictured in May, said his department was not obligated to inform the district attorney about the audits related to evidence booking. But, he added, they were mentioned in criminal cases referred to the district attorney's office.

A law enforcement scandal that could impact thousands of criminal cases in Orange County, Calif., is pitting the region's top attorneys and sheriffs against one another.

The county's public defender's office on Wednesday suggested that top prosecutors covered for law enforcement, helping to keep widespread lapses in evidence booking out of public view. Now, Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders is demanding to know who knew what and when.

An internal investigation conducted two years ago by the Orange County Sheriff's Department, the findings of which were not made public at the time, uncovered systematic mishandling of evidence. Deputies are required to turn in evidence at the end of their shift, but the audit found that

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