Kraft Asks Court for Special Consideration

Randy Steven Kraft, whose murder trial is now in the jury selection stage after five years of delays, has asked a federal court to allow him to receive “X-rated” publications at Orange County Jail, decorate his cell walls and receive boxes of personal items from his family.

Kraft claims that because he has been kept in jail an extraordinarily long period of time, he and other long-term inmates should be given a special section within the jail and that Sheriff Brad Gates should “afford (him) significantly different treatment from short-term inmates.”

Kraft’s claims, made public Thursday, are part of a lawsuit he recently filed against Gates over his living conditions at County Jail, where he has lived since his arrest on May 14, 1983.

Kraft, 43, is charged with 16 murders in Orange County. County prosecutors have also accused him of an additional 21 murders, which can be used as evidence at his trial, according to previous court rulings.

Prosecutors say a jury should be selected by mid-September.

While jail staff and other county officials have chuckled over Kraft’s requests, U.S. Magistrate Ronald W. Rose is taking them more seriously. The magistrate appointed an attorney, James L. Waltz of Santa Ana, to represent Kraft in his lawsuit.

“I think Randy finds himself with nothing to do at the jail and has decided to become a jailhouse lawyer,” Deputy County Counsel Edward N. Duran said.

Duran acknowledged that he was sharply rebuked by Rose last week when the county claimed that Kraft’s lawsuit was improper because he had not filed a copy with the sheriff. Duran also claimed that Kraft should address his grievances in state court, not federal court.

On Aug. 10, Rose wrote: “Rather than addressing the merits of this case, (the county) appears to be engaging in a useless jurisdictional exercise.”

Rose has ordered a status conference with Waltz and the county’s attorneys Sept. 13.

Duran argued that Kraft’s requests are ludicrous.

“We don’t allow any of the things at the jail that Randy wants, for any inmate,” Duran said. He added that the state Board of Corrections has not made any statements that it is improper to keep an inmate housed at the jail for five years.

Duran has argued that it was Kraft and his lawyers who sought numerous delays in his trial, lengthening his stay in the jail.

In his lawsuit, Kraft asked that he be permitted to:

- Keep food items in his cell that are not a security threat. One of his major complaints is that he is not allowed to save food from meals, which are served in his cell, for late-night snacks.

- Receive a package, weighing as much as 35 pounds, of personal items every three months.

- Use the surfaces of his cell for display of personal and legal items “except for pornagraphic (sic) materials.”

- Receive through the mail any material that can be legally sent through the mail and which is not a threat to jail security, including “X-rated items.”

- Permit him to have a television outlet he can control himself. Inmates are permitted to watch television, but jail deputies control the stations.

He also asked that the jail formulate policies especially for long-term inmates and permit long-term inmates access to a wider range of commissary items, which Kraft argued are permitted for state prison inmates.

Waltz said he has met with Kraft about his complaints.

“I think he’s got a pretty good beef,” Waltz said. “The jail was not meant for inmates to be housed there that long.”

Although Waltz will take over Kraft’s civil case, until now Kraft has written his own court documents.

Duran, the county’s attorney, said Kraft’s legal writing shows a bright mind.

At one point, Kraft wrote that Duran “is jousting with windmills” in his legal arguments and “is bedeviled by visions only he can see.”

Kraft also included in his claims a drawing of himself in his cell, which he said is drawn to scale.

Duran said Thursday that he was surprised that Rose appointed an attorney to represent Kraft. While Duran was careful not to criticize Rose’s decision, he pointed out in his own legal papers, and underlined it, that Kraft already has three court-appointed lawyers “all paid for by the County of Orange.”

Kraft’s three trial attorneys say they have deliberately avoided getting involved in Kraft’s jail lawsuit because the court only appointed them to represent him in the murder case.

KRAFT DIAGRAM OF JAIL ACCOMMODATIONS Randy Steven Kraft, who has been jailed for five years awaiting trial for 16 slayings, submitted this diagram of him and his cell to the court, along with a request for a special section in Orange County Jail for long-term inmates. For clarity, Kraft’s diagram is redrawn here as exactly as possible.

This representation of Petitioner’s cell at the jail and a figure representing Petitioner are accurately drawn to scale. Petitioner has been detained in a cell such as this since mid-April, 1984. The front of the cell, seen here, is barred, and the cell is approximately 9-foot deep. Petitioner is locked into his cell for 21-22 hours per day.

“This representation of petitioner’s cell at the jail and a figure representing petitioner are accurately drawn to scale. Petitioner has been detained in a cell such as this since mid-April, 1984. The front of the cell, seen here, is barred, and the cell is approximately 9-feet deep. Petitioner is locked into his cell for 21-22 hours per day.”

-Randy Steven Kraft