Conflicts of interest

Murder retrial begins Monday

Gallegos should not be involved in the Kesser case. He should give it to Max Cardoza, or another qualified Deputy DA in the office, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the politicization of this case during the election.

Case in point:
Elections should focus on the good record of candidate
5/27/2006
Dear Editor,

I realize that in writing this letter it is not helping my cause in trying to keep my family’s name and the circumstance regarding my son’s 14-year-old trial out of public scrutiny. That is not possible now, as Ellie Bowman and Madison Ayala have taken it upon themselves to pass out fliers in front of the Courthouse regarding this case.

They have not taken into consideration, nor have they contacted me as to how this would affect my feelings or the feelings of my grandson, whom I have been raising since this tragedy.

They state that this is not politically motivated. Why then, after this length of time, have they taken it upon themselves to bring anything about this case up now? Yes, Mr. Worth Dikeman was the prosecuting attorney in the case and yes, he obtained a conviction and yes, it is something I have to live with every day, but he was doing the job he was appointed to do and I will never fault him for that, not as it seems Ellie Bowman is doing because of the conviction of her son.

During the trial and for all the years that have gone by, Mr. Dikeman has shown me and my family the greatest respect and compassion. He has shown interest in how my grandson was doing in school, how I was doing and always had a great concern for our family. I doubt if there are many attorneys on either side who do that. I deeply resent the fact that to win an election people have to use tactics that can hurt other people instead of running on their supposedly good record.

Joanne Kesser
Fortuna
***
There are other serious conflicts as well.
***
Update:
Retrial drudges up past for longtime Fortuna residents