{"id":109105,"date":"2022-06-21T13:38:47","date_gmt":"2022-06-21T20:38:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=109105"},"modified":"2022-06-21T13:39:02","modified_gmt":"2022-06-21T20:39:02","slug":"op-ed-every-murder-is-tragic-preventable-ones-are-inexcusable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2022\/06\/21\/op-ed-every-murder-is-tragic-preventable-ones-are-inexcusable\/","title":{"rendered":"Op-ed: Every murder is tragic, preventable ones are inexcusable"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

By Eric W. Siddall<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

On June 14, 2022, El Monte Police Officers Santana and Paredes were brutally murdered by Justin Flores.<\/strong> In their final sacrifice, the officers boldly rushed towards danger where others would not. No words will satisfy the debt we owe to these two men, nor will any give comfort to the two families left behind.<\/p>\n

Under California law, Flores should have been in a state prison cell on the day he murdered the two officers. Instead, because of George Gasc\u00f3n<\/strong>\u2019s policies, he was in a hotel room in El Monte beating his girlfriend until two officers responded for the call for help. Now two officers are dead.<\/p>\n

To the fallen officers, Gasc\u00f3n offered his \u201cthoughts and prayers.\u201d<\/p>\n

This hollow expression belies Gasc\u00f3n\u2019s actions. Nineteen months earlier, George Gasc\u00f3n issued an order that all strikes offenses that were charged by the prior district attorney were to be stricken. He ordered that all cases eligible for probation should be given probation. Those were his orders.<\/p>\n

On February 10, 2021, Flores \u2013 a gang member charged with felon with possession of a firearm, possession of methamphetamine, and illegal possession of ammunition \u2013 was the beneficiary of this policy. Under California state law, Flores was ineligible for probation and faced a minimum sentence of 32 months in state prison. Instead, because of Gasc\u00f3n policies, he received probation.<\/p>\n

As word spread of Gasc\u00f3n’s role in this killing, Gasc\u00f3n\u2019s press operation attempted to misdirect the media about the consequences of his bad policy. His spokesperson\u2014not an actual prosecutor\u2014stated that \u201cthe sentence he received in the firearm case was consistent with case resolutions for this type of offense.\u201d Later, the same spokesperson said, \u201cexperienced managers in the office have reviewed the facts of the case and the criminal history of Mr. Flores and determined that this [plea deal] offer was on par with offers in previous administrations.\u201d<\/p>\n

I challenge these \u201cexperienced managers\u201d to come forward and explain why a career criminal gang member, who under the law is required to serve a state prison sentence, served ten days in county jail. Further, I am curious how they can explain why Flores served less time on illegal possession of a gun, ammunition, and drugs than he did for petty theft or a suspended license violation.<\/p>\n

Gasc\u00f3n\u2019s spokesperson continued the misdirection: \u201cThe sentencing directive is presumptive. We empower DDAs to rebut that presumption if they believe extraordinary circumstances exist \u2026 No such request was made in this case.\u201d
\nThese claims are false. First, Gasc\u00f3n\u2019s policy had no exceptions regarding strikes. In relevant parts, his policy stated: \u201cAny prior-strike enhancements (Penal Code \u00a7 667(d), 667(e); 1170.12(a) and 1170.12 (c)) will not be used for sentencing and shall be dismissed or withdrawn from the charging document.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was no appeal process nor exceptions to this policy. Another part of the same policy stated, \u201cif the charged offense is probation-eligible, probation shall be the presumptive offer absent extraordinary circumstances warranting a state prison commitment\u2026Extraordinary circumstances must be approved by the appropriate bureau director.\u201d On a practical level, this meant no exception.<\/p>\n

A brief analysis of the office makes it clear why this was the case. The Los Angeles District Attorney\u2019s Office is the largest local prosecutorial agency in the nation. It is charged with prosecuting every state felony and almost all misdemeanors within Los Angeles County; with approximately ten million residents, it is the most populous county in the country and more populous than forty U.S. states. Historically, the DA\u2019s office files between 30,000 to 50,000 felonies and 100,000 to 135,000 misdemeanors per year. There are 32 branch and area offices, not including the downtown courts.<\/p>\n

Handling an operation of this size requires delegating decision-making at the court level. This is precisely why most offers on cases were made by experienced line-prosecutors or their immediate supervisors. Bureau directors, historically, were rarely involved because they had other duties, including approving more complicated requests, like leniency or immunity, structuring their respective bureaus, and implementing policy. Requiring that five bureau directors manage the individual case settlement of approximately 50,000 cases would be an absurd proposition.<\/p>\n

Yet, this is exactly what Gasc\u00f3n did when he required bureau director approval on non-probationary offers. Five bureau directors were now responsible for making offers on all cases if the trial, calendar, deputy-in-charge, or head deputy sought a deviation from the presumptive probationary policy. Effectively, this meant probation was given on many troubling cases\u2014including Flores\u2014because requiring bureau director approval is the same as not giving an exception to the policy.<\/p>\n

This absurd requirement was purposeful. In an office with this volume, if deputies made deviation requests, the entire system would collapse. Decisions normally made within an hour would take months.<\/p>\n

June 14, 2022 was the end result of this policy. A career criminal who should never have been out murdered two officers who were trying to help a vulnerable victim. Bad policy mixed with bad facts resulted in an unforgivable consequence. We must do better.<\/p>\n

About the author<\/span>: Eric W. Siddall is Vice President of the Association of Los Angeles Deputy District Attorneys, the collective bargaining agent representing nearly 1,000 Deputy District Attorneys who work for the County of Los Angeles.<\/em><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Eric W. Siddall On June 14, 2022, El Monte Police Officers Santana and Paredes were brutally murdered by Justin Flores. In their final sacrifice, the officers boldly rushed towards danger where others would not. No words will satisfy the debt we owe to these two men, nor will any give comfort to the two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":107213,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1480],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109105"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109105"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":109106,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109105\/revisions\/109106"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}