The Orange County District Attorney is seeking to dismiss all charges against a Santa Ana corrections officer accused of falsifying jail logs on the morning an inmate committed suicide in 2021, the DA’s Office stated Wednesday.
“When we find that we can no longer meet our burden of proof, as we did in this case due to the diligence of Special Prosecutions Deputy District Attorney Deborah Einhorn, we will ask the court to grant a dismissal of those charges based on a lack of sufficient evidence,” O.C. District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a news release.
Einhorn was assigned to review the case against Esteban Gonzalez, 39, of Chino after it was filed last month.
Gonzalez was charged with three felony counts of altering public documents while working at the Santa Ana jail in 2021 and faced a maximum sentence of 6 years in state prison if convicted of all charges.
Gonzalez was responsible for overseeing inmates at the jail on the morning of June 25, 2021, according to the DA’s Office.
Prosecutors said surveillance video showed Gonzalez did not conduct safety checks before the inmates were released for lunch, which inmate Darryle Samuel never showed up for.
A short time later, an inmate worker discovered Samuel hanging from a bedsheet in his cell. Gonzales and three other officers attempted lifesaving measures while waiting for paramedics to arrive.
Prosecutors said that once paramedics took over Gonzalez conducted the inmate safety checks and accused him of then going back and altering the jail logs.
“The callousness involved in desperately trying to alter the jail log while paramedics were trying to revive Mr. Darryle is unconscionable,” Spitzer said in September.
Wednesday’s announcement requesting a judge to drop the charges came after Einhorn determined that they could no longer be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
“Since I became the elected District Attorney, I have remained committed to reviewing additional evidence at every stage of a criminal case to determine whether we can still meet our ethical burden of proving a case beyond a reasonable doubt,” Spitzer said. “The presumption of innocence until proven guilty is a cornerstone of our criminal justice system and it is one that must never be forgotten.”
