Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer sought to dismiss rape charges against a Newport Beach surgeon and his girlfriend last year based on a flawed review of evidence in the case, according to a group of senior D.A. investigators.
The investigators’ findings were outlined in a memo sent in July from Cmdr. Clint McCall to Chief Paul M. Walters, who leads the DA’s investigative bureau. The Times reviewed a redacted copy of the memo, which was filed in court Thursday.
The top-to-bottom review of the case against Grant Robicheaux, 40, and Cerissa Riley, 33, ordered by Spitzer was “incomplete and contained inaccurate and misleading information,” according to the memo. Those shortcomings led prosecutors for Spitzer to make arguments in court for why the charges against the couple should be tossed out that “contained numerous unsupported allegations, misstatements, untruths, and factually wrong conclusions,” McCall wrote in the memo.
The memo and the internal divisions it highlights mark another twist in a case that’s been embroiled in controversy for the past two years.
Read the full story at LATimes.com.