Kern Count D.A.’s Critics

* Re “Growing Faction in Kern County Claims Zealous D.A. Crosses Line,” March 29: I must agree with Kern County Dist. Atty. Ed Jagels that his critics, Edward Humes and others, seem to have an “ideological agenda.” Being rich, well educated or socially accepted in Los Angeles does not make you unsuitable for Bakersfield. Ed won his first election by running against a judge who announced that Ed should be shipped to the Kern County desert for criticizing him. The desert vote elected Ed. I was district attorney then. I backed Ed.

Bakersfield was not a sink of vice. In 12 years as D.A., I found only one deputy sheriff faking evidence. He took prints from a defendant from his own desk and claimed they came from a crime scene. He was found out and promptly fired.

It is not correct to say that if an appellate court reverses a Kern County case, Jagels is at fault. He cannot follow the deputies into court on their trials and prevent any errors. The reversing judge may have been one of Gov. Jerry Brown’s appointees.

The criminal defense bar in Kern County would dearly love to pick the next D.A. They don’t need the help of someone who learned his criminal law from the likes of them and does not know or understand Bakersfield. As was once said, “If you can’t trust the messenger, you can’t trust the message.”

ALBERT M. LEDDY

Los Osos