Tony Rackauckas
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Tony Rackauckas (born 1943) is the current District Attorney of Orange County. He was elected in June 1998 and is serving his third term in office.
[edit] Controversial actions
Rackauckas' tenure has seen a number of controversies, such as the failure to take any action against the Orange County Sheriff's deputies who were negligently responsible for the murder of Orange County jail inmate George Chamberlain in 2006.[1]
Rackauckas' recent focus on the use of DNA evidence to solve crimes has met with criticism by Orange County's own forensic science lab, as he plans to outsource the DNA profiling to a private lab outside of the county -- a service the county lab already provides.[2] Recently, plans were announced to create a local DNA database containing the DNA profiles of the perpetrators of petty crimes.[3] The suspect-less unknown profiles from crime scenes will be compared against the profiles obtained from the DNA profiles of anyone who pleads guilty to a crime in Orange County as a condition of probation or a plea bargain. The federal CODIS DNA database only allows DNA profiles to be uploaded if they come from a person involved in a felony or from a voluntary submission from a donor. Rackauckas' database's upload criteria would be considered illegal, or at least highly unethical on a federal and even state level, as the samples could be said to have been coerced from subjects, however, because the database will only be used on a local level, it can be operated and administered however the DA's office pleases.
