2 weeks Ago By Alexis Espinoza [email protected]
Hacker began by saying she agreed to be the featured speaker of the town hall meeting because she wanted to make sure she remained transparent with the community by keeping the public informed about the workings of the office. “There might be a lot of gossip, a lot of misinformation out there, a lot of statements that maybe are not true,” said Hacker. “What I am here for today is to put together the truth so that you have an opportunity to see what’s going on in my office, and then ask me questions afterward.
” The local DA’s office consists of attorneys, investigators, advocates, and clerical staff, who handle all of the cases submitted. Agencies who submit cases to the Kings County DA include the Kings County Sheriff’s Office, Hanford Police Department, Lemoore Police Department, Corcoran Police Department, Avenal Police Department, Naval Investigative Units, California Highway Patrol, and the Department of Corrections. “Essentially the DA’s office is the hub of our criminal justice system,” said Hacker.
Hacker stated the most important cases to prosecute are homicide cases, and when she took office in 2023, 48 homicide cases were open. Of those, 21 cases were more than three years old with the oldest open homicide case being from 2016. Today, there are approximately 30 open homicide cases, but none of them are older than 2019, she said.
Hacker further explained that her office also handles post-conviction cases. According to Hacker, state legislation has given convicted murderers an opportunity to be tried for an early release or a reduced sentence. She highlights two local high-profile cases that are back in court for resentencing.
The first case back in court for potential resentencing is the 1996 Kevin Galik case. Galik was convicted of killing 11-year-old Traci Rene Conrad and stuffing her body in a kiln. His conviction is being challenged with assistance from The Innocence Project.
The other high-profile case back in court is the 1986 Kevin Yocum case, in which 21-year-old Yocum arranged for the murder of his wealthy parents and was subsequently convicted of murder after two jury trials. “Both of these cases are back in front of the courts, and we are doing our best to fight these cases because we know they are so important to this community,” said Hacker. “Those losses of the victims are so deeply ingrained that a lot of people, even today 30 years later, still remember those cases.
What I am telling you now is that we are not just a law office, we don’t just handle cases today. We are going back 30 years to put together a prosecution so we can protect our community from murderers like Kevin Yocum and Kevin Galik.” Hacker then moved forward to discuss the struggles the DA’s office has faced financially and addressed comments that have been made throughout the community.
She said that public safety funds are protected by the Constitution, and the previous budgets for the office were not the same as hers as she was elected into office during a tumultuous time. Hacker explained that a civil lawsuit was filed by former Chief Investigator Robert Waggle which ended with Waggle receiving a $1.1M settlement from the county for sexual misconduct by the former DA, Keith Fagundes.
Hacker said the county is still paying out from the settlement and the repercussive costs involved. “That settlement of $1.1 million was paid to Robert Waggle, but that is not all that Kings County had to pay as a cause of this lawsuit,” said Hacker.
“Our insurance rates went sky-high. So in addition to the $1.1 million, in addition to all of the attorney fees and costs that the county had to bear, the DA’s office is paying an increase of almost $800,000 per year based on the higher insurance costs from the lawsuit.
We will have to pay those kinds of costs for seven years. This roughly comes out to $5.5 million in extra insurance payments from that lawsuit alone.
” Hacker went even further, saying the county will spend nearly $7 million in costs related to the misconduct of the prior DA as three additional cases are pending against him including a case of violating the double jeopardy clause. Despite the higher costs pushed out by the DA’s office in relation to the lawsuit, Hacker said her main challenge is staffing. The DA’s office experienced a 70% turnover rate in the 23/24 Fiscal Year which Hacker said can be attributed to attorneys leaving for better pay and opportunities for remote work.
But it isn’t just Kings County that is facing a shortage of attorneys. Counties across the state are facing the same issue which has caused some counties to offer bonuses and higher wages, making Kings County a less competitive area for employment. Hacker said that the Board of Supervisors did approve a retention and recruitment bonus, but how it was paid out wasn’t comparable to other counties, some of which are offering a $15,000 bonus on the first paystub.
“Kings County did have a recruitment and retaining bonus,” said Hacker. “The Board of Supervisors generously gave our attorneys a $15,000 retention bonus. However, that bonus was divided out in a way that it never really made an impact or a difference.
” She explained that the payout was separated into three payments of $5,000 a year, and each of the $5,000 sums were paid in a succession of 26 payments which is comparable, Hacker said, to a “tank of gas per pay period.” In addition to a staffing shortage, Hacker said the state has made it very difficult to prosecute crime on any level. “[Sacramento] have made so many roadblocks, red tape, and nonsense in our way for just prosecuting regular crime,” said Hacker.
She elaborated by speaking to “race-blind filing” which is a new mandated case filing process that begins next year. Hacker explained that beginning in January, race-blind charging will be implemented and that the racial information usually provided in police reports will be redacted before submittal to the DA’s office for review. The DA’s office will then make a charging decision without descriptions or photographs of the parties involved in the cases.
Hacker said that this causes issues when it comes to cases involving physical violence as the need to see markings or injuries would be ignored in order to comply with the new case filing system. With race-blind filing, after the initial charge is filed, the state opens all of the case information to the DA’s office, and if the office wants to change charges based on the new evidence, they will have to submit thorough reasons why the initial decision was changed. Hacker said that this will create a multi-step process that begins at the start of each case.
“This is the kind of nonsense that we as a District Attorney’s office is now facing because we have Sacramento progressive idiots making decisions about how we prosecute our crimes,” said Hacker. Furthermore, the state will be implementing the Racial Justice Act which gives power to judges to overrule and make crucial decisions in cases based on claims that “somebody may have been implicitly biased,” but Hacker said that she still hasn’t found out what “implicitly biased” means. To combat the onslaught of legislation being implemented in the coming year, Hacker said the office is now changing how they look at recruiting attorneys.
With support from the Board of Supervisors and other county offices, Hacker has tried to implement solutions including pay increases, a 5% increase in the Cost of Living Allotment, a 9/80 schedule, a telework policy, an expanded Christmas holiday, an Assist-to-Own program, and in-house step hires and promotions. She said that the county is now competitive in its offerings to potential attorneys and was proud to announce that she will be hiring an attorney next week, with more potential hires to come soon. “These efforts have made a tremendous difference.
..,” said Hacker.
“These are amazing strides that the county has made because they have seen the need for us to have a well-staffed county DA’s office.” Hacker also said that the office has changed the standards in how they file cases. Murder cases now need two identifications, sexual assault cases need corroborating evidence, and there is a mandatory 90-day turnaround for misdemeanor cases.
She took a few moments to acknowledge the team of 14 attorneys, four law clerks, and four independent contractors who make up the Kings County DA’s office, and boast about the law clerk program for those who have finished two years of law school and are preparing to take the BAR exam. Hacker spotlighted three high-profile cases that have been prosecuted during her term as DA. The Garrett Leyva case, involving the murder of a brother and sister who were stabbed to death in their home by the sister’s former boyfriend, was one highlighted.
The defendant in this case is now serving life without the possibility of parole. The Diego Montoya-Sosa case, a homicide case in Stratford in which the victim was shot in the heart and his girlfriend held hostage with her children. The defendant is now serving 25 years to Life, plus 10 years.
The Emilio Arredondo case, a child molestation case where a jury convicted the defendant on all charges involving two victims between ages 6 and 8 was a third. The defendant is looking at 30 years to Life. When the audience began asking her questions, Hacker was given the chance to elaborate on Prop 36 and how it would affect her office if it were to be passed by the voters.
She said it would give the office some bite by allowing prosecution of drug possession crimes as felonies after three previous drug possession convictions, adding weapons enhancement charges to possession of fentanyl if weapons are present, and also tackling theft crimes in consideration to petty theft. “It’s not going to change our budget,” said Hacker. “It is just going to make it so we can actually protect you guys because we have been tolerant for too long.
” When concerns arose over the crime rate in Hanford, Hacker confirmed the "alarming" spike in violence and encouraged the community to take appropriate steps to protect themselves..
