The Association of Deputy District Attorneys (ADDA) of Los Angeles County sued newly-installed, George Soros-backed District Attorney George Gascón on Wednesday over his recent orders to reduce sentence enhancements for certain crimes.
Gascón took office earlier this month and immediately announced radical changes, including an end to cash bail, a ban on the death penalty, and a prohibition on extended sentences for exacerbating circumstances, such as using a gun or belonging to a gang.
The new rules affected ongoing cases, such as a case involving a suspect charged with a double murder, including that of L.A. Sherrif’s Deputy Gilbert Solano. After intense public criticism and n outcry from the officer’s family, Gascón restored some enhancements, though only for a limited set of circumstances, such as hate crimes, child abuse, or sex trafficking.
The ADDA lawsuit seeks an injunction against Gascón’s new policy on sentences, saying that it violates California state law.
In a statement, the ADDA explained:
As detailed in the lawsuit, the directives violate California law, which imposes a mandatory duty on prosecutors to plead and prove strike priors. Dismissals of those priors can only be based on individual circumstances, not a blanket policy. Similarly, special circumstance allegations that will result in a life without parole sentence cannot be dismissed under the section cited by the directive.
“Los Angeles County prosecutors have been placed in an impossible position. Do we follow our legal and ethical responsibilities and risk getting disciplined, even fired, by our new boss? Or do we follow his policy directives and risk losing our California State Bar Cards and, by extension, our ability to practice law anywhere in the state? We’re asking a court to answer those questions,” stated ADDA Vice President Eric Siddall.
Later on Thursday, the L.A. Superior Court ordered the D.A. to respond to the lawsuit, and the ADDA withdrew its request for a temporary restraining order to allow the case to be heard expeditiously.
Gascón tried to defend his policy on Twitter:
He also cited an editorial in the Los Angeles Times praising him and calling on the state to reform its “irrational” laws on enhancing sentences.
Gascón is one of several left-wing prosecutors backed by Soros in recent elections. He previously served as district attorney in San Francisco, during a rise in petty crime that made the city notorious for its deterioration.
He defeated Jackie Lacey, L.A.’s first-ever black district attorney, in November, with the help of state and local Democrats — including Mayor Eric Grcetti, who switched his endorsement from Lacey to Garcetti.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His newest e-book is Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.