The Race for District Attorney Is On... And Grades Are In
Coalition Gives Santa Clara County District Attorney Candidates a "D-," "B", and "Incompletes"
Story by Shana White // Photos by Elizabeth Gonzalez
On the morning of October 26, 2006 the Coalition for Justice and Accountability (CJA) held a press conference regarding the race for the Santa Clara County District Attorney between Karyn Sinunu and Dolores Carr.
 CJA created a questionnaire that would see where both candidates were on certain issues and political views and then given a grade. After the candidates received it and answered it they were also going to be graded on their responses and how appropriately they answered the questions. At the press conference there was blown up versions of their report cards of the two candidates.
Karyn has received a "B" for the part of the questionnaire she answered and Dolores who was not present received a "D-."
After the reading of CJA's statement, a community member by the name of Rebecca Rivera wanted to see if Karyn was able to look into son's case. Rebecca Rivera's son was mistakenly labeled a gang member and as a result of this he is now facing a life sentence. Rebecca introduced herself to Sinunu by telling her son's story. She talked about her son's ambitions to become a fire fighter and tha he had never been to jail or even had a criminal record. After, she asked Karen if she was going to look into her son's case and see if she would be willing to see if this was something that she could help here with. When asked again, Sinunu replied saying she would but not right now because she is on leave. Below is the statement that was read that morning by Richard Konda -- a member of Coalition for Justice:
The public should be fully informed as possible on the critical issues related to the election of the new District Attorney. The newly elected DA will set policy regarding the criminal justice system for at least the next four years. The Coalition for Justice and Accountability (CJA) developed a questionnaire on a variety of criminal justice issues and sent this questionnaire to both candidates for District Attorney. Based on their responses to our questionnaire CJA, has issued a report card for the candidates for District Attorney. Both candidates, Dolores Carr and Karyn Sinunu received an incomplete because they did not provide yes and no answers to our questionnaire.
Dolores Carr receives a D- for her written response to our questionnaire because she does not address any of the questions directly but only provides a general response with promises to, Òwork for justice.Ó
Karyn Sinunu receives a B for her written response to our questionnaire because she has thoughtfully given a written response to each question and on a number of critical issues agrees with the CJA position. For example, Ms. Sinunu agrees with CJA that Police oversight is important and agrees that citizen participation such as the Oakland system can be beneficial. Further, Ms. Sinunu pledges to vigorously prosecute police misconduct cases as vigorously as any other violent crime. While Ms. Sinunu's responses to our questions on Tasers are incomplete and do not address the inherent dangerousness of Tasers, we applaud Ms. Sinunu's response to our officer involved shooting question. She promises a coroner's inquest that is open to the public in all officer involved shootings. We agree with this open process. We compliment Ms. Sinunu for recognizing racial profiling as a hate crime. We are pleased with Ms. Sinunu's statement that she does not agree with the Bush Administration's attack on the Writ of Habeas Corpus. Finally, Ms. Sinunu also acknowledges that wrongful convictions are not acceptable and promises to Òresolve the problem of wrongful convictions.Ó
The Coalition for Justice and Accountability (CJA) formed in 2003 after the tragic death of Bich-Cau Thi Tran who was shot and killed by a San Jose Police Officer as she stood in her kitchen with a Vietnamese vegetable peeler in her hand. CJA continue to advocate for justice for victims of Police Brutality, for reforms in police and prosecutorial practices.
For more information contact:
Richard Konda or Aram James
184 Jackson Street San Jose, CA 95112
408-287-9710 (Richard) or
650-424-1249 (Aram)
sccala@pacbell.net (Richard) or
abjpd1@juno.com (Aram) |
Comments On This Story:
Message From: Howard Johnson (hlj_mongoose@yahoo.com), Monday, November 6, 2006 7:54 AM
Delores Carr would be by far a better District Attorney for Santa Clara County as opposed to someone who cares nothing for the Civil Rights of those accused. When Santa Clara County District Attorneys office has broken the law, ignored laws, manufactured evidence or suppressed evidence inorder to
gain convictions, someone needs to question the ethics of the office.
Remember the San Jose Mercury News series of "Tainted Trials - Stolen Justice."
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