A retired Orange County Superior Court judge criticized District Attorney Todd Spitzer Tuesday for recent public statements deriding the actions of judges who handled various cases against a 20-year-old man whose first brush with the law was the fatal stabbing of his mother when he was 13.
Spitzer, however, defended his comments, calling the suspect in question a dangerous man who “keeps getting released.”
The defendant, Ike Souzer, who was arrested last week in Rosarito, Mexico, appeared in a Santa Ana courtroom Tuesday for a probation violation hearing. Another hearing in the case was set for May 7.
Souzer — who had already escaped from custody twice before — was convicted in October of making a shank while in the Central Men’s Jail in Santa Ana and sentenced to three years behind bars, but the sentence was structured so that he would be freed in a few months.
However, Souzer ran afoul of the law again on Jan. 21 when he painted a mural on the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway underpass at 190 S. Yorba St. near Orange, his attorney, David Isaac Hammond of the Orange County Public Defender’s Office, said. Souzer told police he wanted to spray paint an image of his girlfriend who died, prosecutors said in court papers. The mural was 18 feet by 9 feet.
He pleaded guilty to felony vandalism last month and Orange County Superior Court Judge Larry Yellin sentenced him to 90 days in jail and placed him on two years of formal probation. But Souzer, who had credit for 118 days already served behind bars, was released March 20.
After his release from custody, personnel from Project Kinship, which has spent years advocating for Souzer’s release from custody, transported Souzer from jail to a transitional housing location in Santa Ana. After he arrived at the house, he left and never returned, according to prosecutors. Souzer also failed to notify his probation officer of his whereabouts in violation of the terms of his formal probation.
A bench warrant was issued on March 21, and Spitzer issued a statement warning the public that an “extremely dangerous and violent criminal” was at large.
In announcing March 27 that Souzer had been recaptured, Spitzer’s office criticized the actions of three Orange County judges who had handled his various cases, including Yellin for sentencing Souzer to time-served in the vandalism case, and now-retired Judge Gary Pohlson, who the DA’s Office said reduced felony charges to misdemeanors in a case in which the defendant attacked three correctional officers while incarcerated.
“My prosecutors have spent years and years trying to do everything they can to keep this violent criminal behind bars, and at every turn, the very judges who are elected to protect public safety have done little to do so and instead have given him break after break,” Spitzer said in his statement.
Pohlson told City News Service he did not have any recollection of the case, noting that a high volume of cases were being resolved and settled during the pandemic because of the difficulty holding trials.
“It’s just what a judge does,” Pohlson said of helping to settle cases. “It’s totally inappropriate, making comments about other judges. He (Spitzer) is acting like (former President Donald) Trump is.”
Trump has been gagged by judges in some of his civil and criminal cases for the comments he has made on his social media platform regarding court officials and prosecutors.
“A really conscientious prosecutor should not be so reckless to make those kinds of comments,” Pohlson said.
Pohlson said he also worries that such criticism from the D.A. could lead to threats from the public.
“Who knows what the public thinks,” or how someone might respond, Pohlson said.
Responding to Pohlson’s comments, Spitzer said in a statement, “Every day people are asking me why criminals like Ike Souzer are getting out of jail. He killed his mother, assaulted correction officers, made a shank in jail, escaped from custody multiple times, absconded from probation and fled the country. And yet he keeps getting released.
“As the elected District Attorney, I am charged with keeping Orange County California’s safest large county. My prosecutors are doing their jobs. But we have to fight every day to keep our communities safe. We need judges to do justice — while keeping the public safe. Ike Souzer is an extremely dangerous individual who will stop at nothing to get out of custody and stay out of custody and he is going to continue to manipulate anyone and everyone he has to — including judges — in order to get what he wants. When judges fail to do their job to protect public safety, the public has a right to know who is responsible.”
Before his trial in the shank case, Souzer’s attorney filed a motion to recuse Spitzer based on previous statements he made about the defendant in news releases and interviews. That motion was denied.
Ahead of Tuesday’s court appearance, probation officials recommended that Souzer be ordered to serve out the rest of his original sentence in the shank case, which would be 592 days in jail, equating to the balance of the two years of supervision left in the case.
Souzer allegedly told Orange County District Attorney investigators that he intended to “go to Columbia and never return,” according to probation officials.
Orange County prosecutors appear to support the probation department’s recommendation.