September 12, 2022

USA: Anatomy Of A Communist Takeover. Gascón As SF DA Authored A Ballot Measure To Reduce Some Felonies To Misdemeanors. Then Became LA DA And Imposed NO CASH BAIL NO JAIL For Criminals

CBS News, Los Angeles local
written by staff
December 8, 2020

LOS ANGELES -- The county's lead prosecutor announced sweeping changes Monday for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office, including the elimination of cash bail for misdemeanor and some felony offenses.

Newly sworn-in George Gascon announced Monday that county prosecutors will no longer seek cash bail for any misdemeanor or non-violent, non-serious felony offenses.

Attorneys who have clients behind bars awaiting trial on any of the affected offenses can immediately schedule a hearing to revisit bail and his office won't contest their release.

Gascon, 66, also told reporters he is taking the death penalty "off the table" and will seek to re-sentence inmates on death row to life in prison.

The former San Francisco prosecutor also declared he won't file any gang enhancements in criminal complaints, saying they undermine rehabilitation, exacerbate racial inequities and unnecessarily crowd jails and prisons.

He also pledged to immediately end the practice of charging minors as adults, and will make victims' services available to families of those shot and killed by law enforcement officers.

The District Attorney's office will also not require victims of crime to testify against perpetrators in order to gain access to victims' services.

Reality TV star Kim Kardashian-West, who recently has advocated for criminal justice reform, voiced her support for Gascon Monday, saying the actions "are the change we've been waiting for."
As that city's lead prosecutor, Gascon authored a ballot measure to reduce some felonies to misdemeanors, including some thefts, which led San Francisco to have the nation's highest property crime rate per capita in the U.S., according to the Associated Press.

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Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, facing an aggressive recall election petition drive, has backtracked on his policy of eliminating cash bail for defendants, announcing that he will allow prosecutors to request bail in some cases.

Gascón was elected in 2020 with the help of millions of dollars from left-wing billionaire George Soros during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, ousting incumbent Jackie Lacey, the first black woman to hold the job. He was supported by L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, who switched his support from Lacey to Gascón, and had the backing of the state’s Democratic Party elite, including Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). Upon taking office, he began implementing radical criminal justice “reform.”

One of those “reform” policies was ending the use of cash bail in pre-trial detention for all non-violent offenses. That policy, backed by many Democrats, led to many criminals being released after arrest, with some going on to commit other crimes.

As crime began to skyrocket, Gascón faced efforts to force a recall election. The first such campaign fizzled last year, but a second attempt has already gathered 400,000 of the nearly 567,000 signatures needed by July 6 to put a recall on the ballot.

Now, the L.A. Daily News reports, he is dropping the ban on cash bail, while saying he looks forward to seeing those reforms adopted in the long term:
“Despite the significant efforts by community justice partners, a comprehensive pre-trial services program has not been fully realized,” the memo states. “After listening to the community, victims, and members of this office, I have decided to allow limited exceptions to the pre-trial release policy while such a program is finalized.”

…

Eric Siddall, vice president of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys, described Gascon’s zero-bail policy as an “unmitigated failure of leadership.”

“It took 18 months of smash-and-grab robberies and revolving-door reoffenders for George Gascón to admit what it took Angelenos about 18 minutes to know in their guts — his bail policy didn’t work and it made all of us unsafe,” he said in an email Friday. “His stubborn refusal to course-correct was a failure of competency.
The prospect of a recall election has already prompted Gascón to drop other unpopular policies. In February, after a public outcry when a convicted violent sex offender was given a juvenile sentence for a crime committed in 2014, just before (at the time) his 18th birthday, Gascón dropped his policy against prosecuting all offenders under the age of 18 as juveniles.

That convict, Hannah Tubbs, has since been booked for a 2019 murder in neighboring Kern County.

Gascón is one of dozens of prosecutors whom Soros has helped elect in large cities across the country to pursue left-wing policies on criminal justice, including the end of cash bail and pre-trail detention, as the country suffers a crime wave.

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Fox News
written by Louis Casiano
May 12, 2022

Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon is facing mounting criticism over the way his office prosecutes defendants and is the subject of a second recall effort

Los Angeles County's top prosecutor has reversed a policy barring his deputy district attorneys from seeking cash bail, which he wanted to eliminate, as criticism of his office continues to mount amid a rise in crime and calls for his ouster.

A memo to prosecutors from Sharon Woo, the chief deputy district attorney and second-in-command to District Attorney George Gascon, outlined a plan to create develop a pre-trial services program that would balance "both the rights of the accused while protecting public safety" as an alternative to cash bail.

"After listening to the community, victims and members of this Office, I have decided to allow limited exceptions to the pre-trial release policy while such a program is finalized," the memo states.

The new policy addresses defendants who have been released on bail, released on their own recognizance and who have committed crimes while other charges are pending and those who pose an "exceptional" public safety risk.

Prosecutors may ask for bail in cases where a defendant was released on bail or on their own recognizance when a new offense is allegedly committed. They can also seek cash bail for a misdemeanor, non-serious felony or non-violent felony if there are "extraordinary circumstances" justifying a request with approval from their "Bureau Director" and upon written recommendation from a "Head Deputy."

Prosecutors can also seek bail in cases where a law enforcement agency obtains a bail deviation from a magistrate judge for offenses also charged as a misdemeanor, non-serious felony or being non-violent.

Eric Siddall, a Los Angeles County prosecutor and vice president of the Los Angeles County Association of Deputy District Attorneys, called the bail reversal "a pathetic attempt for them to correct a bad policy."

"Instead of completely retracting the policy, once again the DA is pretending that circumstances have changed when in reality the policy was just poorly drafted and conceived from the very beginning," he told Fox News.

The biggest problems with not seeking cash bail occurred with cases involving smash-and-grab robberies and being a felon in possession of a firearm, he said. Felons charged with possessing firearms are often released back onto the street immediately, he said.

"I bet it's one of the principal reasons why this policy reversed," Siddall said. "Under George Gascon's bail system, if you were a felon and you were arrested with a firearm, we weren't asking for bail. There are cases where people have been murdered, where people have robbed at gunpoint where that same defendant had been arrested on two prior occasions with guns and they were just released."
As that city's lead prosecutor, Gascon authored a ballot measure to reduce some felonies to misdemeanors, including some thefts, which led San Francisco to have the nation's highest property crime rate per capita in the U.S., according to the Associated Press.
[source: California Courts, The Judicial Branch of California]
What nerve to call this proposition "THE SAFE NEIGHBORHOODS and SCHOOLS ACT". My gosh. That's one major mindf**k. This law is the complete opposite. They are counting on you simply reading the title and not bother reading the new law. (emphasis mind)
Overview

Proposition 47 implemented three broad changes to felony sentencing laws. First, it reclassified certain theft and drug possession offenses from felonies to misdemeanors. Second, it authorizes defendants currently serving sentences for felony offenses that would have qualified as misdemeanors under the proposition to petition courts for resentencing under the new misdemeanor provisions. Third, it authorizes defendants who have completed their sentences for felony convictions that would have qualified as misdemeanors under the proposition to apply to reclassify those convictions to misdemeanors.

Felony convictions resentenced or reclassified as misdemeanors under the proposition are considered misdemeanors for all purposes, except that such relief does not permit the person to own, possess, or have in his or her custody or control any firearm.

Theft Offenses

Proposition 47 created new misdemeanors and reclassified several felony theft offenses as misdemeanors. The new misdemeanor provisions do not apply to persons with one or more prior convictions for offenses under Penal Code section 667(e)(2)(C)(iv) or for sex offenses that require registration under Penal Code section 290(c). The new provisions include:
  • Shoplifting. The proposition added Penal Code section 459.5 to create a new misdemeanor offense called "shoplifting," punishable by up to 6 months in county jail. Shoplifting would be defined as "entering a commercial establishment with intent to commit larceny while that establishment is open during regular business hours" where the value of the property does not exceed $950. Any other entry into a commercial establishment with intent to commit larceny is burglary. Any act of shoplifting as defined above must be charged as shoplifting. No person charged with shoplifting may also be charged with burglary or theft of the same property.
  • Forgery. Before Proposition 47, forgery under Penal Code section 473 was a wobbler offense. Proposition 47 reclassified forgery of specified instruments involving $950 or less as exclusively a misdemeanor. The misdemeanor provision is not applicable to any person convicted both of forgery and identity theft under Penal Code section 530.5.
  • Insufficient Funds. Before Proposition 47, a violation of Penal Code section 476a was a wobbler offense, except that the offense was strictly a misdemeanor if the total underlying amount did not exceed $450, unless the person was previously convicted of one of several specified theft offenses. Proposition 47 increased the total threshold amount for misdemeanors from $450 to $950 and increased the number of disqualifying prior convictions from one to "three or more."
  • Petty Theft. Proposition 47 added Penal Code section 490.2 to expressly define petty theft as “obtaining any property by theft where the value of the money, labor, real or personal property taken” does not exceed $950. This new definition of petty theft applies notwithstanding Section 487 “or any other provision of law defining grand theft.” (Pen. Code, § 490.2(a).) As such, the new definition of petty theft appears to apply regardless of how specific categories of property are treated under separate statutes. This new provision is not applicable to any theft that may be charged as an infraction “pursuant to any other provision of law.”
  • Receiving Stolen Property. Before Proposition 47, a violation of Penal Code section 496 was a wobbler offense, except that if the value of the property did not exceed $950, the district attorney or grand jury could specify the offense as exclusively a misdemeanor “in the interests of justice.” Proposition 4 7 rendered all violations of section 496 that do not exceed $950 as strictly misdemeanors, eliminating prosecutorial discretion to charge those offenses as felonies.
  • Petty Theft with a Prior. For most defendants, Proposition 47 eliminated the offense of petty theft with a prior under Penal Code section 666 by narrowing the category of persons subject to punishment under that section to only include persons required to register under the Sex Offender Registration Act, persons with prior violent or serious felony convictions under section 667.5(e)(2)(C)(iv), and persons convicted of Penal Code section 368(d) or (e) [specified theft crimes involving elder or dependent adults].
Drug Possession Offenses

Proposition 47 also reclassified drug possession offenses under Health and Safety Code sections 11350, 11357(a) [concentrated cannabis], and 11377 as strictly misdemeanors punishable by up to one year in county jail. As with the theft offenses, these new misdemeanor provisions do not apply to persons with one or more prior convictions for offenses specified under Penal Code section 667(e)(2)(C)(iv) or for a sex offense that requires registration under Penal Code section 290(c).
But but but... gun control. 🙄 For who? Us not the criminals he supports terrorizing us. (emphasis mine)

Posted by Princess Mononoke at 2:47 PM

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