In the murder case of Gregory Doan, Joyce Dudley again used a case to seek the limelight when she should have been protecting society.
Doan, under the most pathetic of trial circumstances, would have been convicted of a vehicular manslaughter with certain prior offenses. Even without the murder charge, he would have been sentenced to 15 years to life.
Dudley knows, as does every prosecutor in California, that life means just that in this state — life. Her comments to the paper about wanting “more” time not less for Doan and therefore not seeking a life sentence are a cheap way to advance her campaign on the back of yet another victim of crime. This is patently false, and she again plea-bargained a case — a murder case this time — to avoid trial, so she could get her headline and go back on the campaign trail.
People in the District Attorney’s Office are working long hours and dealing with a very stressful time with more serious cases and less resources to prosecute. Dudley again demonstrates a total lack of leadership by selling cases cheap and disappearing back to the campaign trail.
One needs to look no further than the recent plea bargain in the Denise Schu case to see — even in serious child molestation cases — that Dudley puts herself first; not the people of this community whose law enforcement safety she will do anything to put in her own hands.
Jim Nalls
Retired Santa Barbara Police Department lieutenant, retired district attorney criminal investigator supervisor
Carlsbad