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Victims’ rights advocates officially launched their recall campaign against the newly elected Los Angeles County District on Saturday. Atty. George Gascón, who pledged sweeping criminal justice reforms to the country’s largest prosecutor’s office.
The recall campaign group held a “Victims Vigil” outside the downtown courtroom and planned to collect the minimum of 20 signatures required to file a notice of intent to officially begin the process. recall next month. About 100 people attended the event, organizers said.
On the day he took office, Gascón announced a series of sweeping changes that included the end of the use of sentencing enhancements, the severe restriction when prosecutors can seek to detain defendants instead of bail, the end the application of the death penalty in Los Angeles County; and the cessation of the practice of trying young adults.
He has vowed to make many of these reforms during a controversial election campaign against incumbent President Jackie Lacey – a campaign in which law enforcement and prosecutors’ unions across California have spent millions in an attempt failure to defeat him.
The seismic policy changes drew Gascón’s praise from other progressive prosecutors and criminal justice reformers across the country, but left him at odds with his own staff and many local law enforcement officials. with whom he has to work to judge cases.
Representatives of the Recall George Gascón campaign include victim advocates, former law enforcement officials, and current and former prosecutors, including former districts of the Los Angeles District. Atty. Steve Cooley. Former Los Angeles city councilor Dennis Zine is named president and former county supervisor Michael Antonovich is honorary president.
The group’s website says it “promised a more flexible and lenient criminal justice system that would reduce incarceration rates for juvenile offenders and put more emphasis on mental health and substance abuse issues,” but that his policies make the people of the county less secure.
“When he was sworn in as public prosecutor, George Gascón instituted a series of guidelines for prosecutors under his command which have nothing to do with a progressive approach to prosecutions and which have everything to do with a radical program that ignores the victims, flouts the law and endangers the lives and livelihoods of all Angelenos, ”according to the recall campaign.
Trenton Lovell is awaiting trial for shooting the LA County Sheriff’s Sgt. Steve Owen in the style of performing at Lancaster in 2016.
Tania Owen said the prosecutor in charge of her husband’s murder case called her the day Gascón was sworn in and said the office would no longer seek the death penalty, life without parole or any improvements. of the trouble.
“Honestly, it was a boost,” said Tania Owen, who is listed as honorary chair of the recall campaign. “As soon as I heard that, I said absolutely no. This will not happen on my watch. “
In a statement, Gascón said research shows excessive sentencing practices have worsened recidivism, resulting in more victims of crime.
“The pain and trauma of losing a loved one is immeasurable and I recognize and respect that some victims want me to impose the maximum sentence on them,” he said. “Our justice system cannot continue to rely on policies that will kill more victims tomorrow just because some victims want the maximum sentence imposed on them today.”
“I also cannot ignore research showing that these views are not shared by a majority of survivors of violent crime. Nonetheless, all survivors agree that they need more support, which is why I am focused on expanding our ability to provide clinical and trauma-informed care to victims, ”said Gascón.
An elected county official must be in office for 90 days before a recall petition can be filed, according to the Los Angeles County Clerk’s Office. Gascón took office on December 7, so the recall process cannot begin until early March.
Once the wording of the recall petition is approved, promoters will have 160 days to collect the necessary signatures, which equates to 10% of the county’s more than 5.8 million registered voters or more than 580,000 signatures, according to the office. from the county clerk. A private Facebook group for the recall effort currently has nearly 40,000 members.
Even if they are able to collect enough signatures, a recall vote will likely not appear on the ballot until 2022, according to the group’s website.
Earlier this month, a judge dealt a blow to Gascón’s plan to end the use of sentencing enhancements in thousands of criminal cases, saying it was in violation of California law.
The order stemmed from a lawsuit filed late last year by the union that represents hundreds of LA County prosecutors, alleging that some of Gascón’s plans exceeded his legal authority and put line prosecutors in a bind. ethical deadlock. Improved sentences can add several years to an accused’s prison sentence if certain criteria are met, such as the use of a firearm causing serious bodily harm in the commission of a crime or the act of committing a crime. ‘be a documented gang member.
The lawsuit particularly challenged Gascón’s policy of prohibiting the use of sentencing enhancements for previous felony convictions, arguing that under California’s “three strikes” law, prosecutors do not have the right to do so. discretion to “refuse to request improvement”.
Gascón said he would appeal the decision.
Times editor James Queally contributed to this report.
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