Rackauckas has been criticized by Public Defender Scott Sanders for his office 's purported mishandling of jailhouse informants which has created difficulties in convicting and sentencing defendants due to the violations of defendants ' constitutional rights . This resulted in the " taking off the table " of the death penalty for Scott Dekraai , who had pleaded guilty to murdering eight people and wounding another in a Seal Beach massacre . Dekraai was sentenced on September 22 , 2017 by Goethals to eight terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole , one term for each of his victims and to seven years to life for attempted murder
Seal Beach massacre
2011 Seal Beach shooting
Tony Rackauckas