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John SextonPosted at 8:50 pm on December 17, 2020
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The families of people killed in LA County have been complaining about DA George Gascon’s decision to drop all sentencing enhancements against the people who took their relatives from them. Yesterday one of Gascon’s own Deputy DAs, who often prosecutes child abuse cases, criticized his new boss saying, “I just don’t understand why we’re not trying to prosecute child murderers to the fullest extent of the law.”
Yesterday Gascon responded to the criticism he’s been receiving by explaining that there will be no exceptions to his decision to drop enhancements, not even in the case of hate crimes. Gascon explained that sentencing enhancements are racist:
Gascon said people will still be prosecuted for the underlying crimes, but those convicted would likely serve far less time in prison once the enhancements that can add years for things like prior convictions, hate motivation, gang involvement, or the use of guns, are dismissed.
“To believe for a moment that we are going to fix all of the social problems by putting people in a concrete box, is so wrong,” he said.
Gascon said any exceptions would, “swallow the rule,” and reiterated that he felt sentencing enhancements were most to blame for the state’s swelling prison population.
Since he was sworn in Dec. 7, many families of murder victims have told NBC4 they received calls from the District Attorney’s Office advising them that the enhancements would be dismissed, prosecutors would no longer seek sentences of life in prison without parole or death, and it was probable that the person charged with their loved one’s death would spend much less time in prison if convict