Friday, March 22, 2013

People v. Mecano (Cal. Ct. App. - March 22, 2013)

Based upon what the jury found and the facts of this opinion, it seems like LAPD officer Russell Mecano is truly a sleazeball.  He abused his position to coerce powerless teenagers to sleep with him.  Yuk.

Read the opinion for more disgusting details.  Fear not:  Mecano's (presumably) no longer with the LAPD, since he's going to spend four years in prison.

Justice Aldrich's opinion contains this line regarding one of the victims:  "Crying, she called Ben and told him that she'd let Mecano do things to her, and she felt dirty.  Alex [the victim] called 411 and told a Pasadena police officer that she just had an 'incident' with a police officer, 'Rusty,' in which he let her 'off,' and 'bribed me with sex.'"

Are we sure that Alex really told all this to the 411 operator, not 911?  I mean, yes, it's information, and maybe it was Alex (not Justice Aldrich) who was confused.  But if it's a typo, I'd fix it, and if it's not, I might drop a footnote.