{"id":15627,"date":"2026-06-17T04:02:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T04:02:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=15627"},"modified":"2026-06-17T04:02:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T04:02:47","slug":"oc-judge-throws-out-human-trafficking-conviction-of-third-striker-because-of-racial-bias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=15627","title":{"rendered":"OC judge throws out human trafficking conviction of third-striker because of racial bias"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A third-striker sentenced to 79 years to life in prison for human trafficking, rape and other felonies has been granted a new trial because an Anaheim police detective showed racial bias on the witness stand.<\/p>\n

Read more Deputies, firefighters answer different call: rebuilding fire survivor\u2019s Altadena home<\/a><\/p>\n

Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard King last month overturned the 2017 conviction, ruling that the detective\u2019s testimony \u2014 that \u201cpimps are generally Black\u201d \u2014 violated the state\u2019s Racial Justice Act.<\/p>\n

In a 51-page ruling, King said the only remedy for then-Lt. Craig Friesen\u2019s statements was to throw out the conviction of defendant Chazz Jackson, 38, who is Black.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch testimony was completely unnecessary,\u201d the judge said. \u201cInstead it was a stereotype of racial character evidence presented to the jury, which was not needed in any way to prove guilt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said they will retry the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe allegations in this case are horrific, and we believe in the strength of the evidence in this case,\u201d said Kimberly Edds, spokesperson for the Orange County district attorney\u2019s office. \u201cWe remain resolute in our pursuit of justice for the young women who were victimized.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attorney Katherine Hallinan, representing Jackson, called the ruling \u201chuge.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this case, they were tying the likelihood of his guilt to his race,\u201d Hallinan said. \u201cHis race was referred to over and over and over again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Anaheim police did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Jackson was convicted of human trafficking a group of women, raping two of them, pimping, attempting to persuade one witness not to cooperate with authorities and several other felonies. Some of the women were minors when they met Jackson.<\/p>\n

Jackson was arrested after one of the victims called her mother while he was away. The mother called Anaheim police.<\/p>\n

Appearing as an expert witness for the prosecution, Friesen, then head of the county\u2019s human trafficking task force, testified: \u201cSo within the prostitution\/pimping\/human trafficking world, for the most part \u2014 and I hate to racially categorize, but for the most part \u2014 the people involved, the pimps, are generally Black.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Under further questioning, he said, \u201cI can tell you that the majority of the people that we arrested were of African-American\u00a0descent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attorney Hallinan also accused the late trial judge, Steven D. Bromberg, of racial bias in his introduction to jurors.<\/p>\n

Read more Report: Defenseman John Carlson won\u2019t re-sign with Ducks<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI wonder when I said that this was a criminal case how many of you looked at counsel table, you see three gentlemen sitting at counsel table, you can\u2019t see their faces, yet, you\u2019re probably going to get a chance to meet them, and you probably figured, well, two of them are lawyers, and you see one gentleman, an African-American, he\u2019s black,\u201d Bromberg said. \u201cYou probably figured he\u2019s the defendant. Yep, he\u2019s the defendant. That\u2019s Mr. Jackson, Chazz Jackson.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hallinan\u2019s motion argued that Bromberg\u2019s statement was discriminatory and tainted the jury.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy its plain language, this statement explicitly equates Blackness with criminality, a racial\u00a0stereotype, by asserting the jury pool can assume Mr. Jackson is the criminal defendant, and not a lawyer, based on Mr. Jackson\u2019s race,\u201d Hallinan wrote.<\/p>\n

King disagreed, saying that when taken with further statements, Bromberg\u2019s remarks were not a violation, but part of an admonishment to the jury that Jackson was innocent until proven guilty.<\/p>\n

The Racial Justice Act, enacted in California in 2020, prohibits bias toward a defendant based on race, ethnicity or national origin. It doesn\u2019t matter the degree of bias, only that it was shown to exist. The law has a lower legal standard for proving bias, which is \u201cby a preponderance of evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is the second time this year that an Orange County judge has declared a violation of the Racial Justice Act in a major case.<\/p>\n

On June 12, Superior Court Judge Michael Cassidy reduced the potential sentence for a Chilean national accused of burglary after earlier finding that District Attorney Todd Spitzer showed racial bias in the case.<\/p>\n

Cassidy ruled that Jorge Navarretecorvalan\u2019s base sentence, if convicted, cannot be higher than the midterm of four years. Navarretecorvalan could face more time with enhancements.<\/p>\n

Deputy Public Defender Rose Angulo said in court documents that Spitzer had used Navarretecorvalan as the poster child in the prosecutor\u2019s fight against a visa waiver program that allows Chileans into the United States without a background check. Spitzer\u2019s effort came as Chilean burglary crews were breaking into high-end homes nationwide.<\/p>\n

Spitzer vowed to appeal Cassidy\u2019s ruling \u201call the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Lord of the Rings\u2019 hobbits to reunite at Fan Expo in Anaheim<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A police detective’s testimony that “pimps are generally Black” was unnecessary and a violation of California’s Racial Justice Act, the jurist ruled. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15626,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-based-on-facts-either-observed-and-verified-directly-by-the-reporter-or-reported-and-verified-from-knowledgeable-sources","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nOC judge throws out human trafficking conviction of third-striker because of racial bias - Silicon Valley Moving Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=15627\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"OC judge throws out human trafficking conviction of third-striker because of racial bias - 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