OC sheriff's deputies who lied on reports testify that they didn't know it was illegal

[sl8]

https://www.ocregister.com/2020/09/25/oc-sheriffs-deputies-who-lied-on-reports-testify-that-they-didnt-know-it-was-illegal/amp/

OC sheriff’s deputies who lied on reports testify that they didn’t know it was illegal

Tony Saavedra
PUBLISHED: September 25, 2020 at 6:18 p.m. | UPDATED: September 25, 2020 at 6:18 p.m.

Two fired Orange County sheriff’s deputies convicted of lying on their police reports testified recently before a grand jury that they didn’t know it was illegal to falsify the documents, transcripts show.

Joseph Anthony Atkinson Jr., 39, and Bryce Richmond Simpson, 31, had neglected to book evidence but falsified their reports to say they had. The once routine practice of sheriff’s deputies booking evidence by the end of their shifts, as required by department policy and state law, was ignored for years in hundreds of cases where evidence was booked late or not at all, an internal audit found.

Atkinson and Simpson, considered the worst offenders in the department’s “evidence scandal,” were allowed to plead guilty in June to a misdemeanor charge of willful omission to perform their official duty and were given one year informal probation, with no jail time, no community service and no fine.

[OneBro]

1. Most common police defenses: fear and ignorance

“I was afraid,” or “I was too stupid to know any better.”

From the article:
Special prosecutor Patrick K. O’Toole told grand jurors that he gave the plea deal to Atkinson and Simpson partially because they had not been informed of the Penal Code section for lying on a official report.

“So I let them plead to the less serious charge because I thought it was justified under the circumstances,” O’Toole told the jurors. “And I think you will recall also their testimony that, not that ignorance of the law is any excuse, but . . .”
Yes, he actually said that.

[Fullduplexxx]

2. I was alwayd told ignorance of the law is no excuse

[mikelgb]

3. Held to a higher standard I see...

/s