Inside an alleged bail bonds scheme

Article - News - Inside an alleged bail bonds scheme: "My mistake. Joe Cavallo apparently has already tried his selective-prosecution defense – and has been shot down. I didn't realize this because the hearing on the subject was conducted in secret because it involved grand jury testimony. So yesterday, I sat in Judge Carla Singer's courtroom and went through the entire case file, getting a look at previously sealed documents that lay out an illegal scheme prosecutors say Cavallo and a bail-bonds company conducted to drum up business.

The two men who owned Xtreme Bail Bonds in Santa Ana pleaded guilty last week and will get four months in jail. Cavallo, who has pleaded not guilty, is supposed to go to trial in July. One of his lawyer's key arguments is that the D.A.'s Office selectively targeted Cavallo for his aggressive defense in the Haidl and Jaramillo cases. We'll get to that, but first let's take our most detailed look yet at the way the weirdly named crime of 'attorney capping' supposedly worked in the O.C. Jail. The following is based on testimony by former inmates, as well as by former employees of Cavallo and Xtreme."