Yippie! Wasting your valuable taxpayer money but everybody thinks we're working hard!

​Huntington Beach residents didn't have their police helicopter patrolling the sky over their city late this afternoon because the pilots decided to leave the city and take the expensive bird on a low-flying joyride.

The aerial officers probably felt lottery-jackpot-type joy because somehow their path mirrored the vehicle path of a veteran OC Weekly investigative journalist who is presently investigating multiple Huntington Beach cops for corruption.

Imagine the coincidence!
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Gomez

​A Los Angeles gangster, undocumented alien and pimp who beat and then strangled a 24-year-old prostitute to death in her Garden Grove hotel room in 2009 tilted his head to the right and then to the left but said nothing when Judge William Froeberg pronounced punishment this afternoon: life in a California prison without the possibility for parole.

Cesar Gomez, a 36-year-old member of the El Monte Flores criminal street gang, found Ashley Nicole Lilly's escort advertisement in the Weekly's Backpage.com, met her at a liquor store, returned to her Crowne Plaza Resort Hotel Anaheim/Garden Grove room near Disneyland, murdered her and stole her property.
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Skipper: Gilligan!

​Disneyland sells its popular Jungle Cruise boat ride this way:

"Board a trusty tramp steamer for a 7-minute guided tour of jungles from around the world, brimming with exotic animals and lush tropical foliage. Keep an eye out for potential perils -- and stunning beauty -- as your daring skipper navigates untamed waters with a skilled hand, a brave heart and a clever joke."

We all know the hype rarely meets reality, but in Feb. 2010, a Southern California couple claims the ride really was perilous and the skipper wasn't just daring but recklessly speedy before the boat crashed.
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Jim Righeimer

​At the same time Costa Mesa Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer poured more than $42,000 in personal funds into his 2010 political campaign to successfully fight police union attacks, the Republican real estate developer stiffed his own corporate lawyer out of nearly $195,000 in fees.

That revelation is according to a court record officially filed on Feb. 3, but inexplicably held secret until today by Orange County court officials.

Retired Judge Terry Friedman of Santa Monica played arbiter in the case and decided last month that Righeimer had signed contracts with Milburn A. Matthews, a $500-an-hour partner at the San Juan Capistrano law firm of Coontz & Matthews.
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Hold the onions

​There is nothing funny about sexual assault, but an Orange County Register courthouse reporter named Jolly inadvertently published two memorably hilarious lines this week from the trial of an accused serial rapist.

Well, to be fair: One of the hotdog-related nuggets belongs to criminal defense lawyer Joseph G. Cavallo of Haidl Gang Rape fame.

Cavallo uttered this beauty to a jury during his defense of Aaron Silva:
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Snaps photos with tongue; nabs commission

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In California, would-be Realtors have to pass an examination to obtain a valuable, state-issued license.

But there is no requirement that Realtors know a damn thing about activating a camera or taking a decent photograph.

This fact can have tragic, if hilarious, consequences for homeowners trying to sell their Orange County properties.

There were plenty of nominations but here are today's horrible home for sale photos of the day: More >>

​Jose Raul Pineda claims that his massive prison sentence is unfair following an Orange County trial that found him guilty of 20 sex offenses against his nieces.

Pineda admits that when alone with the elementary school girls he liked to touch them, but he disputes that anyone could know his touching accompanied lewd and lascivious thoughts.

His position is that only he can know if he had dirty thoughts and because he said he didn't, then that's that -- he can't be guilty of committing sex crimes.
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Sanchez: Get it together girls!

​[UPDATE at 5 p.m.: After her morning TV appearance, Congresswoman Sanchez appeared on Hardball with Chris Matthews in the afternoon and reiterated her stance that "it's really sad" that Komen for the Cure has decided for political reasons to attack "a very important" medical resource for countless women, Planned Parenthood.

[ORIGINAL POST at 12:30 p.m.:] After praising the "good" work of the Susan B. Komen for the Cure organization, Rep. Loretta Sanchez told a national television audience this morning that she believes conservative, anti-abortion forces in the group have unnecessarily caused a rift with Planned Parenthood.

"It's a shame to see this [relationship] break apart," Sanchez, an Anaheim Democrat, told MSNBC. "[But] it's driven by politics."
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Brents: Gotta match?

​A vicious Orange County career criminal, heroin addict, pimp and killer given a death sentence nearly 12 years ago has reason to rejoice today after the California Supreme Court reversed the punishment because a judge here botched the jury instructions.

In a 26-page ruling written by Justice Joyce Kennard, the high court determined that the superior court trial judge, John J. Ryan, "for reasons that are not clear . . . deviated" from proper jury instructions in a way that misled Gary Galen Brents' jury on a key kidnapping count.
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Detective Spitzer

​It turns out that even though he's no longer an assistant district attorney, Todd Spitzer still has insatiable prosecutorial instincts, and his current suspect is none other than an old, bitter nemesis from the Orange County district attorney's office: Susan Kang Schroeder.

In an 18-page complaint (including attachments) filed just before lunch today, Spitzer told District Attorney Tony Rackauckas that Schroeder, his media-relations director and chief of staff, improperly "used government resources to orchestrate a campaign" against him in his current race for Orange County supervisor.

The affair, which I'll tentatively call Titlegate though Schroeder labels it "character assassination," began with a Jan. 20 Spitzer campaign staff flub: an email press release for a Third District election forum describing its candidate as "Assistant District Attorney, former Orange County Supervisor [and] small-business owner."
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