Defenders of victims’ rights on Saturday officially launched their recall campaign against newly elected Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón, who promised extensive reforms in criminal justice for the country’s largest prosecutor.
The recall campaign group held a “victim watch” outside the City Hall in the city center and planned to gather the minimum of 20 signatures needed to file a notice of intent to formally start the recall process next month. . About 100 people attended the event, organizers said.
On the day he took office, Gascón announced a series of radical changes that included ending the use of sentence enhancements, severely restricting when prosecutors can try to keep defendants in place of bail, ending the use of the death penalty in the county. of LA and stopping the practice of trying young people as adults.
He promised to make many of these reforms during a controversial election campaign against Jackie Lacey – one in which police and prosecutors’ unions across California spent millions in a failed attempt to defeat him.
The seismic changes in the policy have earned praise for Gascón from other progressive prosecutors and criminal justice reformers across the country, but have left him in conflict with his own team and many of the local police officers with whom he must work to prosecute the cases.
Representatives of the Recall George Gascón campaign include defenders of victims’ rights, ex-police and current and former prosecutors, including the former LA County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley. Former LA counselor Dennis Zine is listed as president and former county supervisor Michael Antonovich is honorary president.
The group’s website states that it “promised a milder and smoother criminal justice system that would reduce incarceration rates for minor offenders and put a greater focus on mental health and drug addiction issues”, but that its policies are making residents less secure county.
“The moment George Gascón was installed as a district attorney, he instituted a series of guidelines for the prosecutors under his command that have nothing to do with a progressive approach to the process and have everything to do with a radical agenda that ignores the victims, disregards the law and endangers the lives and livelihoods of all Angelenos, ”according to the recall campaign.
Trenton Lovell is awaiting trial on charges of murdering the LA county sheriff’s sergeant. Steve Owen’s performing style at Lancaster in 2016.
Tania Owen said the prosecutor in charge of her husband’s murder case called her the day Gascón took the oath and said the office would no longer request the death penalty, life imprisonment or any increase in sentence.
“Honestly, it was a punch in the stomach,” said Tania Owen, who is listed as an honorary president of the recall campaign. “As soon as I heard that, I said absolutely no. This will not happen under my command. “
In a statement, Gascón said the research shows that excessive conviction practices have worsened recidivism, leading to more crime victims.
“The pain and trauma of losing a loved one is immeasurable and I recognize and respect that some victims want me to impose maximum punishment on their case,” he said. “Our justice system cannot continue to depend on policies that create more victims tomorrow, simply because some victims want the maximum punishment imposed on their case today.”
“I also cannot ignore research that shows that these views are not shared by most survivors of violent crimes. However, all survivors agree that they need more support, which is why I am focused on expanding our ability to provide clinical and informed care to victims, ”said Gascón.
An elected county officer must be in office for 90 days before a recall petition can be filed, according to the LA County Registrar-Recorder / County Clerk office. Gascón took office on December 7, so the recall process cannot begin until early March.
After approval of the text of the revocation petition, proponents will have 160 days to collect the necessary signatures, which is equivalent to 10% of the more than 5.8 million registered voters in the county or more than 580,000 signatures, according to the registry. county. A private Facebook group for the recall effort has nearly 40,000 members so far.
Even if they manage to collect enough signatures, a revocation vote is unlikely to appear on the ballot until 2022, according to the group’s website.
Earlier this month, a judge struck a blow to Gascón’s plan to end the use of sentence enhancements in thousands of criminal cases, ruling that this violates California law.
The order came from a lawsuit filed last year by the union representing hundreds of prosecutors in LA County, claiming that some of Gascón’s plans exceeded his legal authority and placed prosecutors in an ethical bond. Improving the sentence can increase a defendant’s time in prison for several years if certain criteria are met, such as using a gun causing serious injury while committing a crime or being a documented gang member.
The suit had a particular problem with Gascón’s policy of barring the use of sentence enhancements for previous criminal convictions, arguing that under California’s “three strikes” law, prosecutors are not at liberty to “refuse to seek improvement “.
Gascón said he would appeal the decision.
The Times staff writer James Queally contributed to this report.