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MONDAY, JUNE 09-JUNE 15, 2025
VOL. 14,
NO. 227
Jury finds Spitzer, Nelson harassed prosecutor into retirement
2025 homelessness survey in Long Beach reports 6% increase
By City News Service
joet@beaconmedianews.com
By Joe Taglieri
A
jury in San Diego on Thursday found that a former high-ranking Orange County prosecutor was forced to retire due to harassment from District Attorney Todd Spitzer and his top assistant, Shawn Nelson, now a Superior Court judge. Tracy Miller sued Orange County, Spitzer and Nelson in a whistleblower retaliation and harassment lawsuit after she retired following 25 years in the office. The jury awarded Miller $3 million in economic damages and later awarded $25,000 to Miller in punitive damages from Spitzer. The jury found that Nelson did not act with malice. The jury also found that the county failed to stop the harassment. Miller’s attorneys argued for $330,000 in punitive damages from Spitzer. Miller’s attorney, Bijan Darvish, said it amounted to about 10% of Spitzer’s salary for the eight years he “robbed” her off in her career. The legal fees from the county may amount to about $1 million. Spitzer testified Thursday afternoon post-verdict that his wife handles the family’s finances so he was unfamiliar with the details of their economic situation. “I see credit card bills once in a while,” he said. “I don’t have a real good understanding of our monthly outflow.” He dabbed at his eyes as he testified that any personal
Long Beach officials discuss the 2025 homeless count at Homekey at 1725, the city’s recently remodeled interim housing site. | Photo courtesy of the city of Long Beach
Orange County DA Todd Spitzer. | Photo courtesy of District Attorney Todd Spitzer/Facebook
damages would amount to a “significant hit for everything we’ve worked our entire lives for” as a family. Spitzer, who turns 65 in November, said he has two years left on his term in office and then hinted he would not be running for reelection. When asked when he planned to retire, he said, “Potentially in the next two years — probably pretty strongly in the next two years.” Spitzer said any punitive damage award is “going to change our life trajectory.” He added, “We’ll have to work longer. Our daughter was planning to transfer to university. I haven’t been able to calculate that, but I’ll definitely will have to work longer now.”
Tracy Miller. | Photo courtesy of Tracy Miller, TM Consulting/Facebook
Spitzer acknowledged under cross examination that his family owns three properties, one that’s rented out and the other that is not. He said due to his career in public office as a lawmaker he is in three separate pension plans that have varying formulas. Darvish implored jurors to “send a message” with punitive damages that will halt “this kind of misconduct ... deter harassment against the witnesses who testified.” Attorney Tracey Kennedy, who represents the county, said the verdicts already sent a message. “His punishment is the verdict,” Kennedy said, adding it will dog his political
fortunes. “His career as DA is short-lived,” Kennedy said. “A couple of years at best. ... The message has been set. He understands this.” Kennedy argued that the punitive damages “should be zero,” but if jurors want a dollar figure she suggested “at most, $50,000.” Darvish responded, “We haven’t seen one second of remorse from Mr. Spitzer.” The case was moved to San Diego because of Spitzer’s status as Orange County’s top prosecutor and Nelson’s position on the Orange County bench. Another key witness in the trial was Orange County Superior Court Judge
See Orange County prosecutor Page 31
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omelessness in Long Beach increased just over 6%, with 219 more unhoused city residents compared with last year, according to results of the city’s annual point-in-time count. Volunteers canvassed the city in the early hours of Jan. 23 and identified 3,595 people experiencing homelessness, according to figures released Monday. More than 76% of the increase is a result of the wildfires that started Jan. 7, officials said. Among people surveyed, 167 said they were displaced by the fires that devastated large residential areas of Altadena, Pasadena, Sierra Madre, Pacific Palisades and Malibu and were still active during the point-in-time count. City officials attributed 5% of the homelessness uptick to the fires and 1.5% to other causes. People experiencing unsheltered homelessness this year totaled 2,606, or 72.4%, according to a city report newly released data. Unsheltered homelessness was 27.5% with a count of 989 individuals. Among people in Long Beach who are newly homeless, 56.8% lost their housing in the city, while 26.7% came from nearby areas in Los Angeles and 6.2% came from Orange County. “When we look at the City’s efforts to address homelessness apart from the tragic wildfires, we’ve seen improvements in areas where we have struggled in the past, such as a profound decrease in chronic homelessness,” Mayor Rex Richardson said in a statement. “We’re proud of the
See Homelessness survey Page 02
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