Bakersfield Californian — Letter from Edward Humes

Another view: Author questions accuracy of Jagels' poll

Filed: July 6, 1999

Shame on The Californian for its shoddy reporting on District Attorney Ed Jagels’ ludicrous poll. Not only did the paper fail to solicit my comments — or anyone else’s —‚ to balance the misinformation emanating from Jagels and his hired gun pollster, but, all too typically, this newspaper happily parroted an outrageous, unsupported and false claim by the D.A. and his minions that my book, Mean Justice, is rife with errors.

It is no surprise that Jagels’ poll found he is exceedingly popular with voters in Kern County. Nor is it surprising that residents blame the spate of overturned convictions in Kern County on legal technicalities — that’s the line Jagels has spouted throughout his career. It’s not true, but it’s great P.R.

Jagels is loath to admit it, but it is simply a matter of public record that substantive constitutional and procedural rights were violated in Kern County and that people who are now innocent in the eyes of the law suffered as a result. Do the names Modahl, Kniffen, Nokes, Hubbard, Rollins, Pitts, Tomlin, (I could go on), ring any bells?

(And while we’re posing questions: Will Jagels ever admit Pat Dunn, the main figure in "Mean Justice," was denied a fair trial? Will there ever be an independent and unbiased examination of the jailhouse death of Dunn’s son, Danny, for whom public intoxication became a capital offense?)

As for the poll results that pertain to Mean Justice, they are either meaningless or based on outright falsehoods, since this slanted survey did not bother to specify who, among the respondents, actually read my book.

(I would guess that few, if any, had read it, since the pollster found it necessary to offer his respondents a summary of the book —‚ a completely biased and inaccurate summary, mimicking some of the provably false comments and personal attacks Jagels has made in recent months.)

What good is anyone’s opinion of a book he or she hasn’t read?

Let’s put this ludicrous beauty contest of a poll into its proper perspective: It is a sop for Jagels’ bruised ego, designed to generate the very answers for which he paid —‚ nothing more, nothing less.

Justice, however, is not a beauty contest, and facts are not always popular with the voters. That doesn’t make them any less factual. Mean Justice contains some hard truths about the justice system -- inside and outside Kern County. This silly survey did not attempt to meaningfully explore them. Sadly, neither has The Californian.

Edward Humes of Seal Beach is the author of Mean Justice. Another View takes issue with a Californian editorial, policy or handling of the news. It may exceed the 250-word-letters-to-the editor limit.

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