L.A. Prosecutors Sue Soros-Backed Gascon Over Orders to Reduce Sentence Enhancements

The Association of Deputy District Attorneys (ADDA) of Los Angeles County sued George Soros-backed District Attorney George Gascón on Wednesday over his recent orders to reduce sentence enhancements for certain crimes.

Gascón took office earlier this month and immediately announced radical changes such as an end to cash bail, a ban on the death penalty, and a prohibition on extended sentences for exacerbating circumstances, such as using a gun or belonging to a gang.

The new rules affect ongoing cases, such as one involving a suspect charged with murdering L.A. Sheriff’s Deputy Gilbert Solano. In the wake of outrage from the public and from the officer’s family, Gascón restored some enhancements, though only for a limited set of circumstances, such as hate crimes, child abuse, or sex trafficking.

“As detailed in the lawsuit, the directives violate California law, which imposes a mandatory duty on prosecutors to plead and prove strike priors,” the ADDA explained in a statement. “Dismissals of those priors can only be based on individual circumstances, not a blanket policy. Similarly, special circumstance allegations that will result in a life without parole sentence cannot be dismissed under the section cited by the directive.”

“Los Angeles County prosecutors have been placed in an impossible position. Do we follow our legal and ethical responsibilities and risk getting disciplined, even fired, by our new boss? Or do we follow his policy directives and risk losing our California State Bar Cards and, by extension, our ability to practice law anywhere in the state? We’re asking a court to answer those questions,” stated ADDA Vice President Eric Siddall.

Gascón tried to defend his policy on social media, tweeting, “People must be held accountable, but we often put ppl in prison for extra years, increasing recidivism & creating more victims.”

Gascón and his fellow Democrats don’t give a fig about the victims of crime. To the political left, criminals are the real victims, the victims of societal forces like capitalism and “systemic racism.”