The Orange County Sheriff has denied using jailhouse snitches to build criminal cases.
According to Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens, the department has never had an informant program. Hutchens appeared on the stand as part of a mass murder case in Seal Beach.
A man has already admitted to killing eight people in 2011, but his lawyer wants to take the death penalty off the table by arguing that the use of secret jailhouse snitches played a role in the investigation.
Hutchens says deputies aren't supposed to develop their own relationships with snitches, but says some deputies may have done so on their own.