The recent vandalism of a veteran’s wall and the desecration of Buddhist temple statutes are a stain on our community and the perpetrators must face justice — but not just 90 days before an election.
The record on hate crime prosecutions in Orange County is deplorable and dangerous. It threatens some of our most vulnerable people by giving impunity to violent bigots. Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas has only filed charges in 57 percent of these cases during the past 13 years because he is more concerned with trying to boost his conviction rate statistics rather than seeking justice. In the remaining 43 percent of the cases, Rackauckas has dropped hate crime enhancements referred by police so that he is able to obtain an 80 percent conviction rate.
San Diego County achieves a similar conviction rate for hate crimes but takes on the tough cases and sends a message that no one is beyond the law.
The role of the district attorney is to seek justice for victims, not to run a public relations campaign.
Meanwhile, hate crimes have surged by 70 percent according to the Orange County Human Relations Commission. Interestingly, Rackauckas’ counterparts in Los Angeles County file 70 percent of their hate crime cases, and San Diego and San Bernardino counties file more than 80 percent of hate crimes referred by police.
Rackauckas is cherry-picking cases while our neighboring counties are pursuing violent criminals with the full force of the law.
Notably, Iranian American college student Shayan Mazroei, 22, was stabbed to death by a known white supremacist gang member on Sept. 6, 2015 in Laguna Niguel. Suspect Craig Tanber had recently been released from prison where he served time for another murder as an accomplice to a fellow gang member.
Tanber had a light sentence on his first murder because the district attorney offered a plea bargain of manslaughter following a mistrial in lieu of opting for a second trial and pursuing justice.
Not surprisingly, Tanber killed again because of the Rackauckas plea bargain when he should have still been in prison. This time, his accomplice was girlfriend Elizabeth Thornburg. She was heard by witnesses yelling racial slurs at Mazroei and spitting on him outside a bar. When Mazroei spit back all bets were off. Tanber, after being filled in by Thornburg about the incident, stabbed Mazroei in the neck. All of this was captured on video.
For three years, Mazroei’s parents and supporters protested the lack of justice — no hate crime against Tanber and no criminal charges against Thornburg. Eventually, the negative press caught Rackauckas’ attention and he decided to file charges against Thornburg only for being the get-away driver and not for an aider and abettor of murder — two days before the three-year statute of limitations expired. For years the family suffered from the unknowing.
Tanber will stand trial later next year, but Rackauckas has refused to add a hate crime enhancement. Instead, the family was told to do so would simply “complicate” a straight-forward murder charge that was recorded on video.
Make no mistake, Shayan Mazroei was stabbed to death because he was Iranian American — a fact known to Tanber and Thornburg because of Mazroei’s Persian-inspired tattoo on his forearm that read “eshgh,” which translates to ‘love’ and his outward appearance. The hateful slurs lodged by Thornburg were the clear motive for the slaying.
Disturbingly, in the past decade, there have been 52 reported hate crimes located at schools and colleges in Orange County and another 10 at parks and playgrounds — many of them violent and targeting innocent children.
The district attorney should be aggressive about prosecuting hate crime to send a strong message that this has no place in Orange County. But Rackauckas cares more about showcasing a high conviction rate than he does in seeking justice for hate crime victims.
Orange County residents deserve protection against hate and need to know that such violence will be vigorously and speedily prosecuted always. Not just around election time.
Todd Spitzer is an Orange County supervisor, representing the Third District. He is a candidate for Orange County District Attorney.