Birgit Fladager

Birgit Fladager is the current incumbent District Attorney of Stanislaus County, California. She was elected in June, 2006 and re-elected in 2010 and 2014. In each of those years, she got more than 50% of the vote in the primary election. She did not in 2018 and is running against Deputy District Attorney John R. Mayne in the general election.

Early life

Career
Birgit Fladager is the first elected female district attorney of Stanislaus County, California. One of Fladager's earliest national appearances was on an episode of Forensic Files about the murder of a teenage girl by her stepfather Douglas Mouser. Fladager was the deputy district attorney on the Douglas Mouser case and helped convict him.

Fladager made national headlines as one of the attorneys on prosecution team for Scott Peterson, who was convicted in 2004 for murdering his pregnant wife, Laci Peterson. Fladager was later in the news again for not retrying corruption charages against the Modesto mayor Carmen Sabatino (in 2006) and saying she would retry George Souliotes for murder in 2013, before settling the case for involuntary manslaughter.

Fladager was found to have not committed retaliation against former prosecutor Douglas Maner (Fladager's former employee).
During depositions in that case, Fladager admitted reducing a prosecutor's suspension for driving under the influence from 45 days to 10 days and said the public was unlikely to ever find out about the change in discipline. In 2018, there was controversy about an admission that Fladager made when saying that she did not want senior attorneys to tell rookie attorneys that the defendants they were prosecuting were innocent, even when true.

Frank Carson Case 
Prominent Modesto attorney Frank Carson and many others were arrested in August 2015 for the murder of Korey Kaufman, believed to be a petty thief who stole from Carson.

Carson ran against Fladager for District Attorney in 2014. A preliminary hearing went 18 months, breaking the record for preliminary hearing length. The record was formerly held by the McMartin Preschool case.

Charged Defendants and outcomes as of October 18, 2018:

Frank Carson: Charged with first degree murder with special circumstance of lying in wait, conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice, . Released on own recognizance due to evidence handling failures. Currently on trial for murder.

Georgia DeFelippo, Carson's wife: Charged with first degree murder with special circumstance of lying in wait. Case was thrown out by court for lack of probable cause in 2017. Has made a claim for vindictive prosecution.

Christina DeFelippo, Carson's wife's daughter: Charged with first degree murder with special circumstances of lying in wait. Case was thrown out by court for lack of probable cause in 2017. She has made a claim for vindictive prosecution against Stanislaus County.

CHP Officer Walter Wells: Charged with first degree murder with special circumstances of lying in wait and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Murder charge was thrown out by court for lack of probable cause in 2017. Currently set for October 19, 2018 to set trial 

Daljit Atwal: Charged with first degree murder with special circumstance of lying in wait, conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice. Released on own recognizance due to evidence handling failures. Currently on trial.

Baljit Atwal: Charged with first degree murder with special circumstances of lying in wait, as well as conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice. Released on own recognizance due to evidence handling failures. Currently on trial.

Robert Lee Woody: Confessed killer of Kauffman. He was initially the only person charged with murder. He made a plea agreement with prosecutors that he would receive seven years four months in prison to testify against the others.

Charged with lesser crimes:

Eduardo Quintanar, CHP officer: Charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice and accessory to murder. Case thrown out by judge for lack of probable cause.

Scott McFarlane, CHP officer: Charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice and accessory to murder. Case was thrown out by judge for lack of probable cause, prosecution refiled case. Case is still pending.

Most recent results:

Georgia DeFilippo not held to answer in preliminary hearing had paid $450,000 cash in bail money to get out of jail.

Christine DeFilippo not held to answer in the preliminary hearing.

Eduardo Quntanar not held to answer in preliminary hearing.

Frank Carson acquitted of all charges after an 18 month trial and the jury deliberated less than two days.

Bobby Atwal acquitted of all charges after an 18 month trial and the jury deliberated less two days.

Daljit Atwal acquitted after an 18 month trial and the jury deliberated less than two days.

Scott McFarlane had his charges dropped for the second time thus ending any of his cases.

Walter Wells still facing charges of conspiracy in a crime that the jury acquitted above.

Charges dismissed against Walter Wells on 12/27/2019. No remaining defendants and no convictions. (Source dawgonnit.com)

Electoral history

Stanislaus County, California District Attorney

In 2018, Fladager was challenged by Mayne, Patrick Kolasinski, and Stephen O'Connor in the District Attorney race. Fladager and Mayne are in a runoff.

References

External links
Official District Attorney biography
Official campaign web site

Category:District attorneys in California
Category:Living people
Category:California local politicians
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)