I noticed with interest last week that we had many comments on our web site about the fact that the Star's attorney is also representing former Sheriff's deputy Claudia Valenciana, in whose home former Oxnard police officer Robert Perez Jr. was found fatally stabbed. (Ex-fiancée hires attorney after Perez stabbing)

 It's not my place to talk about the substance of comments, but the level of interest brings up a point about why I included a detail in the article about Mr. Ron Bamieh's work for the Star:

 Even when an association or relationship does not pose an actual conflict of interest, we as journalists are supposed to report it if it could create even the perception of such an issue.

 Transparency allows people to form informed opinions about what they are reading. That's also why we source things to tell readers where information comes from.

 You as a reader might give different credence to information that comes from court documents filed by a plaintiff, a police chief known as tough on crime, a non-profit dedicated to prison reform, etc., so as a journalist, I do my best to let you know where information comes from so you can make your own decisions about how to understand the facts I present.

 Of course, in certain situations journalists do use anonymous or unnamed sources, and it's not going to be possible or necessary in every story to give the life history of every source and his or her associations. In this high profile story, I felt that the detail was important to include, and it clearly was of interest to a number of people.

 For more discussion about disclosure and other topics, take a look at the Society of Professional Journalist's code of ethics:

SPJ Code of Ethics

I was relieved when I arrived at the office early this morning and did not hear about any crime or accident related deaths yesterday, partly because there have been five homicides in the last month.

Last Wednesday, Albino Ramirez, 26, of Casitas Springs was shot dead in Camarillo. His wife and young son were in the car, as was the suspected killer, who they knew. Investigators believe drugs played a role in the motive.

Last Monday, Tina Fuller, 39, of Oxnard was stabbed to death in Oxnard. Police arrested another woman, who was later released because a lack of sufficient evidence, authorities said.

On July 31, Jesus Elery Shinn, 29, of Port Hueneme was shot to death. His case remains unsolved.

On July 26, Linda Price, 67, of Thousand Oaks was found strangled at the apartments where she lived and worked. Police later arrested her 39 year old son, who they described as a transient.
 
On July 19, David Rodriguez Ruelas, 29, of Oxnard was stabbed to death in a crime police believe was gang-related.

Last year, the Ventura County Medical Examiners office tallied 19 homicides, the lowest number since the office began keeping track in 1974.

So far this year, 17 people were killed by others in the county's boarders.

That doesn't include local residents killed elsewhere, such as Pamela Fayed of Camarillo, who was stabbed to death in Century City.

Authorities have not made any connections between any of the cases.

As of today, arrests have been made in nine of the killings. In at least six of those, the victim knew the suspect. Four suspects are relatives of the victim.

The fact that many of the homicide suspects knew their victims is no surprise to police.

Here's a fact from the FBI's 2006 uniform crime report, which includes data from agencies throughout the country:

"In incidents of murder where the relationships of murder victims and offenders were known, 21.6 percent of victims were slain by family members, 23.1 percent were murdered by strangers, and 55.3 percent were killed by someone with whom they were acquainted."

Here's that page if you are interested in more facts:

http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2006/offenses/expanded_information/homicide.html