As RedState has covered extensively, one of the first things Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon did upon taking office was to institute an office-wide policy of not charging “enhancements” for gang crimes or crimes enabled by the use of a gun, and not charging “prior strike” enhancements, all of which had the effect of greatly lowering a chronic offender’s potential prison exposure and taking away a great deal of leverage in getting the defendant to agree to a plea deal – or in enticing a defendant to testify against co-defendants.
Gang members are ever so grateful, as demonstrated in this jailhouse audio where a convicted murderer/gang member calls Gascon a “champ” and says he is going to get Gascon’s name tattooed on his face.
LISTEN @FoxNews, convicted murderer & gang member Luis Angel Hernandez calls progressive Los Angeles District Attorney @GeorgeGascon a “champ” & vows to get Gascon’s name tatted on his face for dropping his gun & gang enhancements. pic.twitter.com/TsFDZZP6Hn
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) April 18, 2022
Since Gascon took office 16 months ago, criminal gangs have become so emboldened in the County that they essentially run the show, while law enforcement agencies do what they can knowing that the DA’s office is going to side with the gangs. The rise in criminal gangs is due to the aforementioned follow-home burglaries, the removal of freight trains from downtown LA, the massive theft of retail and the increase in violent crime.
The ignorant don’t think that gang bangers know about Gascon and what he’s doing, but Melugin’s video shows that’s wrong.
Hernandez “shot and killed a delivery person for a marijuana delivery service during an armed robbery in 2018” and is a member of the OTF gang, according to Melugin’s report. Hernandez boasts in the audio about how gang members can use firearms during crime commissions. He also praises Gascon for the unique circumstance of murdering during an armed burglary.
“This s–t looking real good. Now we got a new DA in LA … so they’re going to drop a gang of, um, like my gun enhancement, my gang enhancement,” he says in the jailhouse phone call. “My gang enhancement is 10 years, fool, for being a gang member. And then the gun in the commission of a crime.”
These enhancements, along with the extra circumstance Hernandez could have faced life imprisonment without parole. However Gascon’s policies that he enacted on the day of his swearing in prohibited this. No wonder Hernandez says:
“I’m going to get that n—–’s name on my face. That’s a champ right there. F—in’ Gascón.”
And with the California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation’s current practice of recommending early release even for violent offenders who continue to be violent in prison (see RedState’s exclusive report on Martin Haro here, and reporting on the Sacramento mass shooter here), there’s no doubt that unless there’s continued public pressure on Gascon, Newsom, and the CDCR, unrepentant violent gang members like Hernandez will continue to be released early and will harm innocent Californians.
No matter your political beliefs about California: Even progressive Democrats from Los Angeles who voted to Gascon didn’t vote for the policies that he implemented on December 7, 2020. These go well beyond anything he stated on the campaign trail, or on his campaign website.
Special Directive 20-8 was the first to be exclusively obtained by RedState. It includes the ban on the charging of enhancements/special situations and the pursuit of charges where the sentence exposure is life imprisonment without parole. Gascon stated (emphasis mine), in the introduction of the directive:
Sentencing enhancements are a legacy of California’s “tough on crime” era. It shall be the policy of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office that the current statutory ranges for criminal offenses alone, without enhancements, are sufficient to both hold people accountable and also to protect public safety.Although initial imprisonment prevents crimes through incapacitation (crime by incapacitation), studies have shown that every additional year of sentence results in an increase of 4-7 percent in recidivism, which eventually surpasses the incapacitation benefits.
Sentencing enhancements, or any other sentencing claims, even under the Three Strikes Law, are not allowed in any of these cases.
In addition, Gascon’s policy provided that any defendants sentenced during the 120 days preceding the issuance of the directive were eligible for resentencing and that Deputy District Attorneys were not allowed to object to such resentencing.
It’s abundantly clear that the DA’s policy that statutory ranges for criminal offenses alone aren’t sufficient to hold people accountable or to protect public safety, especially in light of the fact that the Parole Board and CDCR have an extremely liberal point of view when it comes to allowing violent offenders to be released early.
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