CalMatters.org: Prop. 47 targeted by Dem, GOP lawmakers

Little did California voters know, when they approved a 2014 ballot measure that reduced penalties for certain theft offenses, that their decision would still be making headlines in 2022.

On Tuesday, Democratic Assemblymember Rudy Salas of Bakersfield introduced a bill that, if passed by state lawmakers and a majority of voters, would reverse a key aspect of Prop. 47 by moving the felony threshold for petty theft and shoplifting from $950 back to $400.

Salas: “Enough is enough, we need to fight back against the criminals who are stealing from our communities. We have seen the unintended consequences of Prop. 47’s weakening of our theft laws and I believe California voters are ready to make their voices heard on this issue again.”

Salas’ statement sharply contrasts with those from prominent Democrats including Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta, who have repeatedly emphasized that Prop. 47 has nothing to do with California’s surge in smash-and-grab robberies. But it could help Salas, who’s running for the U.S. House of Representatives seat currently held by Republican David Valadao, court GOP voters — many of whom blame Prop. 47 for the uptick in organized retail crime.

Indeed, a few hours after Salas unveiled his bill, a group of Republican state lawmakers — including Assemblymembers Kevin Kiley of Rocklin, James Gallagher of Yuba City and James Patterson of Fresno — introduced a proposal to repeal Prop. 47 altogether.

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CBS2: Beverly Hills City Council Joins Recall of LA County District Attorney

BEVERLY HILLS (CBSLA) – The Beverly Hills City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to join the recall of Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón.

After an original recall effort, Gascón’s opposition started a second recall effort in December.

The Beverly Hills council cites an increase in widespread crime, including follow-home robberies and smash and grab robberies as s reason for wanting to recall Mr. Gascón.

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Fox News: Los Angeles’ DA Gascon still silent on crime wave, prosecutor says

 

The head of the union that represents nearly 1,000 prosecutors within Los Angeles County accused District Attorney George Gascon on Monday of keeping silent amid a surge in brazen smash-and-grab burglaries and robberies that have become increasingly violent.

Eric Siddall, vice president of the Association of Los Angeles Deputy District Attorneys, said the top prosecutor cares more about the rights of criminal suspects than crime victims as gangs of thieves continue to loot retail stores for thousands of dollars in merchandise, often in front of customers and staff.

Last week, 14 suspects allegedly involved in 11 smash-and-grab robberies last month were arrested and back on the street hours later because of zero-bail policies. They remain free while awaiting their cases to play out in court.

“If you look at the 14 people arrested, they could have been charged, there could have been bail amounts set, but none of that was done because the district attorney refuses to take a leadership position on this issue,” Siddall told Fox News. “He’s created an atmosphere devoid of accountability.”

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Daily News: LA County DA’s policies endanger public safety

By TODD SPITZER and STEVE

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón has enthusiastically embraced radical, pro-criminal, anti-law enforcement policies to fulfill his misguided and dangerous ideology. His policies have ratcheted down punishment to its bare minimum and significantly reduced the prosecution of crime. Murders, gang shootings, organized theft and crime rates have skyrocketed.

Gascón’s destructive policies are not only unnecessarily costing innocent human lives, but they have resulted in increased economic devastation for families and businesses, ranging from mom-and-pop shops to large retailers. Gascón’s devotion to his ill-informed criminal justice agenda has created a public safety crisis, as well as an economic sinkhole. People have been impacted and traumatized by violent crime, and some businesses have been forced to close stores altogether due to organized shoplifting.

The claim there is no link between the recent crime wave and the enactment of the most radical and far-reaching criminal justice “reform” measures ever implemented is shameless gaslighting, or at best, extreme ignorance. Gascón’s policies increase the recidivism rate, and his adoption of a no cash bail system — which has failed miserably in other states — is causing additional harm to needless victims.

Gascón’s blanket policies in the courtroom abandon victims by prohibiting any sentence enhancements or special allegations. At one point, he attempted to eliminate the charging of enhancements for hate crimes. This “one size fits all” approach eliminates the opportunity for judges to impose appropriate and lawful sentences. Gascón’s orders to his deputies not to seek appropriate bail, when the public has voted overwhelmingly to retain a bail system, is another example of a policy that endangers public safety.

Gascón has also abandoned victims’ next of kin at parole hearings. Imagine the trauma of the mother whose son was brutally beaten, stabbed, shot, stripped naked and left in the middle of the street, being forced to have to confront her son’s killer. Under Gascón’s twisted agenda, the mother is left to present the crime scene photos at a parole hearing all by herself. She must go alone against her son’s murderer and his attorney paid for by tax dollars. This is a real case. This is unacceptable.

The California Constitution mandates prosecutors to attend such hearings. The mother of the murdered victim, as well as the people of Los Angeles, have been abandoned by Gascón. Retired and former deputy district attorneys now assist victims in asserting and protecting their rights because Gascón’s policies are inherently averse to victims’ rights and concerns.

The justice system has plenty of advocates for criminals, including the public defender, the alternate public defender, the ACLU, the Innocence Project, Youth Offender Parole Clinic, Habeas Corpus Resource Center and various political front groups established by special-interest donors seeking to spread this same dangerous version of criminal justice. While always protecting defendants’ rights and upholding the Constitution, the elected district attorney should be an advocate for the people and committed to public safety. Gascón is neither.

Gascón has dismantled the Hard-Core Gang Division, wiped out 40 years of the District Attorney’s Office attending parole hearings on behalf of the people and murder victim’s next of kin and demolished the Major Narcotics Division and its wiretap capacity, which was solving gang murders and identifying drug cartel conspiracies. He has done away with High Tech Crimes’ capacity to conduct forensic computer analysis, leaving local law enforcement to fend for themselves.

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He’s Remaking Criminal Justice in L.A. But How Far Is Too Far?

Last December, when George Gascón took over the largest local prosecutor’s office in the country, he made a complete break from the past. His inaugural speech as district attorney of Los Angeles County at once thrilled progressive activists and alienated many of the lawyers sizing up their new boss. Standing alone at a lectern as a pandemic precaution, Gascón put his hands to his forehead and half-bowed, yogi-style, to thank the judge who swore him in over a video connection. He flashed a smile and spoke in Spanish, his first language as a child growing up in Cuba, to honor his mother, who fled Fidel Castro’s Communist rule with his father and Gascón when he was 13.

Switching to English, Gascón, who is 67, acknowledged his long career in law enforcement. “You know, it was 40 years ago when I walked my first beat as a young Los Angeles police officer,” he said. “However, I am not the same man I was when I first put on the uniform.”

Then Gascón leveled an all-out attack on the status quo. The new district attorney described being arrested as “traumatic and dehumanizing,” lifting his hands for emphasis. “Our rush to incarcerate generations of kids of color,” he said, has torn apart “the social fabric of our communities.” Signaling that the police should expect new scrutiny, Gascón promised to review fatal shootings in the county by officers, going back to 2012.

He turned the argument for the “tough-on-crime approach” of other local law-enforcement leaders on its head, blaming their strategy for an eight-year rise in violent crime. He accused his opponents of making “unfounded and self-serving claims” about how more punishment increases public safety. “The status quo hasn’t made us safer,” he said, jabbing his fingers into the air.

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Daily News: California Attorney General Bonta, DA Gascon colluding to overturn death sentences, prosecutor alleges

District Attorney George Gascón and California Attorney General Rob Bonta are working in tandem as part of an apparent legal strategy that already has overturned the death penalty sentences of four Los Angeles County convicted killers, a high-ranking prosecutor said Tuesday.

On Nov. 5, Bonta filed notices of withdrawal in Los Angeles County Superior Court and deferred to the District Attorney’s Office habeas corpus petitions from the condemned inmates challenging their death sentences, records show.

In each instance, the District Attorney’s Office then told the court it conceded the inmates’ claims and asked the judge to vacate their death sentences. As a result, each inmate was resentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The Attorney General’s Office has recently filed at least 20 other withdrawal notices leading Gascon critics to fear that more convicted killers will soon also have their death sentences vacated.

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KFI AM 640: DA and CA AG Bonta Colluding To Drop Death Penalty

Michael Rushford – the founder, president, and CEO of the Criminal Justice League Foundation calls into the John & Ken Show at 4 pm to discuss CA Attorney General Rob Bonta and Los Angeles DA George Gascon coming together to overturn ALL Los Angeles death sentences – which is absolutely CRAZY.

According to the Criminal Justice League Foundation, on November 5th, Rob Bonta’s office issued several Notices of Withdrawal in AT LEAST four different death penalty cases. Gascon’s office then followed up in court stating that they agree and asked the judge to drop the death sentences and eventually re-sentence the murderers to life without parole sentences.

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MyNewsLA.com: Judge Denies DA Union’s Request for Injunction Contesting LA DA Hires

A judge Wednesday denied a request by the union representing Los Angeles County deputy district attorneys for a preliminary injunction preventing what the rank-and-file maintain is the hiring of unqualified candidates, including some from the Public Defender’s Office, by District Attorney George Gascón.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff said the Association of Deputy District Attorneys’ request was premature because there are ongoing internal proceedings before the Los Angeles County Civil Service Commission regarding appeals of previous Gascón hires.

“The issues pending before the commission are identical to those before this court,” Beckloff wrote in his ruling. “There is no competent evidence before the court about what the commission might find after a hearing and what remedy it might issue. The court cannot determine on the evidence presented today that there is no adequate remedy available to (the union) — the court has nothing before it to suggest how the commission might remedy any violation of the (civil service rules) it might find.”

Beckloff set another hearing for Dec. 3 to discuss whether the union will seek a permanent injunction or a different legal remedy. He also encouraged the attorneys to meet and try to reduce the number of issues in the case.

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Fox News: LA County sheriff rips liberal DA for releasing convicted killer

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department harshly criticized a deputy district attorney after she allowed a convicted murderer to be released.

The Los Angeles Daily News reported that L.A. County Deputy District Attorney Alisa Blair did not present evidence at a hearing last week meant to determine if Andrew Cachu should serve his full sentence for killing Louis Amela, 41, in March 2015.

Cachu killed Amela two months before Cachu’s 18th birthday, which makes him eligible for a retroactive transfer hearing to determine if his case should remain in the juvenile court system or be transferred to adult court. Under California law, offenders convicted as juveniles must be released by the age of 25.

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