Justice Is Blindsided

Since Ruben Mize and Bryan Medinilla were 15 at the time of the alleged homicide of Lorenzo Carachure, is the reporter for The Independent sophisticated enough to parse the differential application of the separate gang allegations? Specifically, has The Independent sorted out the gang allegations that apply only to those 16 years and older? [“Murder Case Ends in Mistrial,” 7/7/10]

What role if any has the prosecution played in obfuscating the fine-line distinctions? If there are indeed such obfuscations, what role did they play in the inability of the jury to come to a unanimous verdict?

It doesn’t take a forensic accountant to understand that the cost of retrying the four defendants in another year or so will amount to many hundreds of thousands of dollars, including the cost of four court-appointed private defense attorneys, investigators, forensic experts, and court personnel. Might these expenses have been avoided if the prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Hans Almgren, knew what the witnesses would say—if he professionally judged the strengths of the various charges against the separate defendants including accounting for their ages—before he decided not to offer a reasonable plea bargain?

Reporter Chris Meagher, please look into these and other considerations, as DA Joyce Dudley contemplates whether and how to spend another million of taxpayer dollars on another game of blind man’s buff.—Michael Ganschow