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Embattled Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón is backpedaling on a number of hardline progressive directives he issued upon taking office in late 2020, according to a series of memos he sent to his office Friday regarding how to handle serious crimes.
In five documents, two addressed to deputy district attorneys and the other three addressed to his entire office, Gascón conceded that he’d come to accept his policies were too rigid "after listening to the community, victims and colleagues."
Soon after taking office, he had banned deputy DAs from seeking the death penalty, life without parole, enhanced charges for particularly heinous crimes and trying juveniles in adult court in grievous cases.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón speaks at a news conference, Dec. 8, 2021, in Los Angeles. (Getty Images)
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His memos Friday backed off of all of those directives except for avoiding the death penalty, but critics called the moves "smoke and mirrors" and politically motivated as Gascón looks to fend off a second recall petition after just over a year in office.
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"George Gascón can’t be trusted with the public safety of Los Angeles," said Jonathan Hatami, a longtime prosecutor of child sex crimes in the Los Angeles DA’s office and an outspoken Gascón critic.
Members of law enforcement, Gascón’s own DAs and others have blasted his inflexible directives as a boon to criminals. In one case, a 26-year-old child molestation suspect began identifying as female following an arrest for the assault of a 10-year-old girl in 2014, according to prosecutors. That suspect, Hannah Tubbs, pleaded guilty in juvenile court after Gascón’s office declined to transfer the case to an adult court, and Tubbs could spend less than 24 months in a juvenile facility – alongside girls.
Gascón also noted that while exceptions to his earlier policies may now be requested, they will have to go up a chain of command – through new bureaucratic processes involving officials loyal to him.
Hatami said he’s probably feeling the pressure of the public’s ire toward a staggering crime wave and spike in murders.
"We are supposed to believe that he has suddenly changed his entire belief system overnight?" he asked. "He is a politician and he believes he will be recalled and lose his job."
Alex Bastian, Gascón’s special adviser, argued that the memos actually show the DA "is firmly committed to his principles."
"One of these underlying principles is to constantly refine what we are doing so that we can continue to enhance public safety in a thoughtful manner," he said Friday night. "We are now more than one year into his term, he has listened to community members, victims and colleagues. Based on everything we have learned we are rolling out these policy adjustments."
Hatami, who rose to prominence as lead prosecutor of the infamous Gabriel Fernandez child abuse case, wasn’t buying it.
"Don’t be fooled, Los Angeles," he said. "Actions always speak louder than words. Look at what Gascón has done to LA in just one year. We can’t trust him."
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In Gascón’s first full year in office, the City of Los Angeles saw 397 homicides, according to statistics from the LAPD. That’s a 14-year high.
Prior to being elected DA in Los Angeles County, the Cuban-born Gascón, 67, was police chief in San Francisco, and later succeeded Kamala Harris as San Francisco's district attorney.
