After 26 years in office, Ed Jagels is retiring as District Attorney for Kern County, California. There will be much rejoicing in many corners. Mr. Jagel’s controversial career inspired a book and a documentary film, both of which accuse him of trampling defendant’s rights and imprisoning innocent people. He is perhaps best known for the many child abuse prosecutions he brought without any real evidence of the defendants’ guilt, while ignoring exculpatory evidence. Read this article from Rolling Stone magazine for more details on these cases.
Edward Hume, the author of “Mean Justice”, has a table on his web site which documents the instances of wrongful prosecutions Mr. Jagels was responsible for in Kern County.
To learn more than you probably ever want to know about this guy, check out this post from the Reason web site.
