CA fails to provide a vital safeguard against wrongful convictions

For 32 years, the kidnapping and murder of 6-year-old Willie Cook remained a mystery. 

Then, in 2008, sheriff’s deputies in Siskiyou County got their first big break: A man came forward to say he had witnessed the kidnapping. Steve Marshall was only 10-years-old when Willie disappeared, but his memory of that August day remained vivid. 

So vivid, in fact, that the District Attorney’s Office built its case around his testimony, charging a local man with murder. 

Deep inside the file, however, lay evidence that would cast doubt on Marshall’s testimony. Would anyone discover it? 

To find out, read the gripping narrative of the cold case from CalMatters investigative reporter Anat Rubin. 

The story is part of a series exploring how poor people accused of crimes in California are routinely convicted in California without anyone investigating the charges against them. 

Defense investigators are perhaps the most important safeguard against wrongful convictions. But, as Rubin found, close to half of California’s 58 counties do not employ any full-time public defense investigators. 

Among the findings of her investigation:

• Of the 10 California counties with the highest prison incarceration rates, eight have no defense investigators on staff. 
• In Riverside, for example, the district attorney has 30% more lawyers than the public defender but 500% more investigators.
• Hidden in the data is the greatest tragedy of failing to investigate cases: wrongful convictions. 

Maurice Possley, a leading expert on exonerations, said that a failure to investigate is at the heart of most of the cases he reviews. He’s astounded by what he finds when he looks at the evidence. 

• Possley: “If someone had just made the effort. This was all sitting there.”

For more, read Rubin’s full story of the Siskiyou mystery, and check out our seven key takeaways.

For the record: Yesterday’s newsletter misstated the size of the state budget deficit. It is $12 billion.

Air quality regulators are expected to vote Friday on rules that aim to phase out water heaters and other heating systems powered by natural gas, writes CalMatters’ Alejandra Reyes-Velarde.

Officials at the South Coast Air Quality Management District — which oversees four counties in the Los Angeles basin including Orange County and parts of L.A. and San Bernardino counties — say that home appliances are one of the largest sources of smog-causing gases in the region.

If the rules are approved, 30% of heating appliances sold in the region must be zero-emissions beginning in 2027. Consumers also wouldn’t be required to swap out their appliances immediately, but could buy electric-powered heat pumps when it comes time to replace their natural gas water heaters, central heating systems or furnaces.

Contractors and developers oppose the phaseout, citing higher costs: Installing a heat pump in lieu of a natural gas water heater costs $2,000 more, and replacing a furnace costs $8,000 more. 

Read more here.

On Wednesday the California Supreme Court heard arguments involving a lawsuit against state regulators for their decision to dramatically reduce the compensation customers with solar installations receive for the excess energy they generate. 

As CalMatters’ Malena Carollo explains, in 2022 the California Public Utilities Commission slashed compensation payments utilities paid homeowners with rooftop solar panels by around 75%. The commission said the updated rates reversed what it saw as unfair subsidies to well-to-do solar customers, striking a balance between affordability and encouraging renewable energy alternatives. Since then, demand for rooftop solar projects has taken a nosedive.

The rooftop solar industry, ratepayers and renewable energy groups opposed the reduction and three environmental groups are suing the commission. They argue that the commission didn’t properly consider benefits to customers and disadvantaged communities when it changed the rules. The court is expected to issue its decision in about a month. 

Read more here.

Though federal immigration agents cannot be blocked from accessing places they are legally authorized to enter, California’s Democratic-led Senate passed a series of bills Monday that would limit cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Read more about what the handful of these bills would do from CalMatters’ Jeanne Kuang.