Carona Gets Mixed Reviews in Runnion Case

Re “Carona Formed a Posse With a Plea,” July 26:

Thanks to the efforts of the investigators of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and our news media, a suspect is in custody in the death of Samantha Runnion. This is how it is supposed to work: A child is reported missing, a diligent investigation by local law enforcement follows, and the media urgently disseminate information to the public that will help locate the child. This case had a terribly tragic outcome but our community should applaud the efforts of all who assisted, especially Sheriff Mike Carona, who spent many hours coordinating with law enforcement and the media. I am proud that Carona is our sheriff and offer my heartfelt thanks to the reporters who carried this story in the various media.

John Williams

Mission Viejo

*

I am rather shocked that Sheriff Carona completely skips over the fact that his “collar” was accused and acquitted two years ago. When little Samantha’s friend gave that chilling composite and car description it should have been shown around the complex. How many adults would have immediately recognized the perpetrator from before and sent the sheriff’s office directly to him? They would have been on to him within hours.

Rick Cleveland

Anaheim

*

Sheriff Carona’s extraordinary leadership in the Samantha Runnion case deserves public commendation. Not only did he inspire unprecedented interagency cooperation, he drew in the public to provide thousands of tips and included the media in a most respectful way. His riveting news conferences were heartfelt and illustrated how tirelessly all in law enforcement were working.

Further reinforcing the bond among those involved, he declared that “Samantha had become our little girl.” He used his final press briefing not to detail all the evidence against the suspect, but to express his openly emotional appreciation to the FBI, Riverside County sheriff, his own department, the media and especially the public, without whose involvement the accused man, Alejandro Avila, would not so quickly have been apprehended.

Mary Rocamora

Los Angeles

*

Apparently The Times has lost its guts, at least in the opinion department. Absolutely no adverse letters to Sheriff Carona’s swaggering, self-congratulatory proclamation of “100%” certainty of guilt of suspect Avila were published. So we don’t need courts, juries or judges any longer. Nor do we need a district attorney or defense counsels. All we need is the sheriff taking on all of the above himself. Whatever happened to “due process”?

R. Edmondson

Laguna Niguel

*

It is really unfortunate that prosecution of the miserable, depraved creature who kidnapped, sexually molested and murdered 5-year-old Samantha Runnion is going to be under the jurisdiction of Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas.

This is the same man who in his televised news conference declared that he would decide in two weeks whether to ask for the death penalty for the perpetrator of this horrendous crime against a child, where the evidence against the suspect is solid and irrefutable.

Ideally, I would like to see the person responsible for Samantha’s death tried in Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia or North Korea, where the trial would last about two or three days and the convicted killer would be executed immediately.

Peter J. Moore

Long Beach

*

Regarding the Samantha Runnion case, Rackauckas said anyone who commits such an act should “either die in prison of natural causes or be executed.”

As heinous as this crime is, bear in mind that because of our mushy liberal court of appeals and defense lawyers getting rich filing appeals, there are more than 600 inmates on death row. They have committed crimes just as atrocious, and it is obvious that they are going to die a natural death.

Basically, we the public have lost control of our laws concerning illegal immigration, drugs, and of course, capital punishment.

Regarding the latter and proving my point, can anybody tell me when the next execution is scheduled?

Don Williams

Newport Beach

*

I had the privilege of serving on a jury in an assault/threat case recently in Orange County. The wrangling by the lawyers to get a jury favorable to their point of view was intense, taking half as long as the trial itself.

During the trial, the prosecution had an ongoing testy dialogue with the judge over evidence, procedure and rules, much to the delight of the defense attorney. The defense attorney was better-prepared, no question about it. There wasn’t a great deal of hard evidence, mostly the testimony of a blue-collar immigrant husband and wife, spoken in broken English, assisted by an interpreter. Their testimony was attacked repeatedly as unreliable. The judge, over and over again, ruled in favor of the defense.

There was quite a bit of circumstantial evidence, but mostly it came down to whether one believed the accusations of the couple, who had absolutely no reason whatsoever to make any of this up.

Cut to the jury room: I’ve never in my life sat with so many adults that couldn’t add two plus two to get four. Modern Americans have lost the ability to reason. Fortunately, reason prevailed and we returned a guilty verdict. I truly wonder what those jurors think now about the case we decided, in light of what happened to poor Samantha Runnion. Did we save a life? Who knows. All we did was think (and argue) it through.

Avila’s jurors on the original child-molestation trial were “just following instructions” about “reasonable doubt” and now a little girl is dead. Prospective jurors: Do the math and listen to your gut instincts. Defense attorneys and judges don’t seem to be long on common sense these days.

Tracy Cervellone

Lake Forest

*

Though I sympathize with Erin Runnion, who recently lost her 5-year-old daughter, Samantha, to a tragic murder, and I can understand her anger and feel her unbearable pain, I think she is out of line for chastising the jurors who acquitted Alejandro Avila on an earlier unrelated child molestation case, saying that they are responsible for her daughter’s death.

It is highly unfair to place the blame on them. We don’t live in the times of the futuristic “Minority Report,” where crimes can be predicted with certainty before they happen, and perpetrators apprehended and sentenced. Jurors can only be expected to try to make rational, fair and just decisions, and not be psychics delving into the future to see the consequences of their actions.

Even if Avila had been convicted on that previous child molestation case, there is no guarantee that after release he would not commit acts of child molestation again. And because most child molesters are not murderers, there would be no way to predict that Avila would have ever murdered a child. Blaming others, particularly unjustly, does nothing to prevent future acts of child molestation and murder. Once such cases have reached the trial stage it is already too late.

Kenneth L. Zimmerman

Huntington Beach