“J’Accuse..!” Father of Mallory Dies invokes Emile Zola to challenge Congresswoman Lois Capps

• By Peter Lance April 15th, 2014 One of the seminal moments in history underscoring the power of the press to up-end a political scandal came on January 13th, 1898 When famed writer Emile Zola openly challenged the President of France to investigate an infamous act of anti-semitism known as “The Dreyfus Affair.” In that scandal which rocked Europe for several years Jewish Army Officer Alfred Dreyfus was unjustly convicted and sentenced to Devil’s Island, a notorious prison in French Guyana.

Today, after sitting in the courtroom where Raymond Victor Morua III pleaded guilty in the DUI hit-and-run manslaughter death of his daughter Mallory, Matt Dies was interviewed by Scott Steepleton on KZSB radio’s The Voices of Santa Barbara program and used those same words to challenge Cong. Lois Capps:

“It was incredibly tough… really hard to be in the (court) room and hear the voice of the man who killed my child. It was a very emotional moment for me; hearing him say ‘guilty…’ While I haven’t found forgiveness for Mr. Morua I do have some understanding and I have gained a little respect for him. Because He’s the only one from Mrs. Capps office who has shown any honor at all. Everybody else there just seems to want to protect and save their own skin. 

“Coming out of the court Peter (Lance) asked me a question and I didn’t have a ready answer for it. He asked me, “what would you say if you could speak to Lois Capps right now?” And I was caught a little off guard and I hadn’t really thought about that.

So I thought about it and what I came up with was (a reference to) Zola in the Dreyfus Affair. I accuse you of being heartless. I accuse you of denying responsibility where you are responsible. I accuse you of not being who you purport yourself to be. I’d like to see you do the right thing.”

CLICK HERE to listen to the entire one hour broadcast. CLICK BELOW to download the entire five-part series by Peter Lance published from April 13th-17th in the News-Press:

PART ONE:        Memories of Mallory
PART TWO:       Everybody Loved Raymond
PART THREE:   The Hero And The High Speed Chase
PART FOUR:     Damage Control
PART FIVE:       The Cover-up

CLICK HERE: for News-Press reporter Angel Pacheco’s EXCLUSIVE STORY on the filing of a wrongful death suit in U.S. Federal Court for The Central District California by Stoll, Nussbaum & Polakov.