Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer's office released an internal investigation on the Seal Beach Mass Shooting case where two of its former prosecutors committed malpractice.

The malpractice took root when then Orange County prosecutors Dan Wagner and Scott Simmons ignored using a veteran government informant to get a confession from the man behind the mass shooting, Scoot Dekraai.

The issue was a so-called "snitch scandal" in Orange County.

Dekraai avoided the death penalty due to their malpractice when eight people were killed, and one was wounded.

Civil Rights Were Violated

Former D.A. Tony Rackauckas argued for years that his office had made mistakes. But he insisted that they were not done on purpose.

The probe showed the reverse. Wagner and Simmons violated Dekraai's civil rights on purpose by using an informant after Dekraai had retained a lawyer and was charged formally.

The 57-page report concluded that the two men made a "deliberate choice not to find out the criminal and informant history." Fernando Perez was housed next to Dekraai when he was said to have confessed to the mass shooting days after his arrest, reported Los Angeles Times.

Wagner and Simmons were not mentioned by name in the report but by their roles in the case. The roles of the Orange County Sheriff's Department in the controversy that began to unfold in 2013 were not explored as well, said Orange County Register.

CBS Los Angeles reported that the prosecutors feared Dekraai would try to defend of insanity to dodge the death penalty. So they improperly used an off the record informant to gain comments that will make Dekraai appear guilty of the crime.

Sources said Dekraai bragged about the killing to the informant. There were claims of Dekraai saying he felt like he was "in the matrix."

The report noted that there was "intentional negligence" done by the prosecutors. Spitzer's office pointed out that the evidence was "clear and convincing."

Spitzer took over the post-January last year after reports on corruption during the past leader came up.

The report said that the mistakes made in the case "would not have been made by junior-level attorneys."

Both Wagner and Simmons have resigned late last year and have since gone into a defense firm in Irvine. They did not return calls and e-mails Monday.

The scandal led to many homicide cases in Orange County to have a retrial. Some cases led to reduced sentences.

Scott Dekraai Appears in Court
(Photo : Photo by Mark Boster-Pool/Getty Images)
Seal Beach Shooting Suspect Scott Dekraai Appears In Court Scott Dekraai, accused of killing eight people in a Seal Beach beauty salon listens, while his attorney Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders addresses the court during a motion hearing on March 18, 2014 in Santa Ana, California. The hearing is underway to address the public defender's allegations of a widespread, unconstitutional jailhouse informant program that he feels affects the case of his defendant.

Using Confidential Informants

The report said there wasn't enough evidence to find misconduct or malpractice in five other cases where confidential informants were used. It also noted that the D.A.'s office has done some great reforms to address the losses that come with using confidential informants.

Dekraai's attorney, Scott Sanders, panned the report. He said the report was not what was needed by those affected by informant-related misconduct.

Sanders pointed out that the prosecutors in the case were no longer employed by the office. The misconduct also happened years ago and was found by trial and appellate courts.

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