{"id":109169,"date":"2022-06-24T14:00:45","date_gmt":"2022-06-24T21:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=109169"},"modified":"2022-06-24T15:48:50","modified_gmt":"2022-06-24T22:48:50","slug":"op-ed-gascons-recent-statements-are-100-false","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2022\/06\/24\/op-ed-gascons-recent-statements-are-100-false\/","title":{"rendered":"Op-ed: Gasc\u00f3n\u2019s recent statements are 100% false"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
George Gasc\u00f3n [Image via prosecution.org]<\/figcaption><\/figure>By Eric W. Siddall<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Gasc\u00f3n\u2019s refused to hold Victor Bibiano<\/strong> accountable for a 2009 double murder. That decision was based solely on Gasc\u00f3n\u2019s ideological policy. There is no science, no data, and no consideration for public safety supporting his position. It was a policy based upon having the \u201clightest touch\u201d on all criminals. The same failed reasoning kept Justin Flores on the streets on June 14, 2022, when he murdered two El Monte police officers. It is why Mario Rodriguez was murdered on April 16, 2022.<\/p>\n

Yet, today, Gasc\u00f3n denies responsibility for these failed policies. He rewrites history, ignores the consequences of his policies, and claims that facts, not ideology, guided his decisions.<\/p>\n

Gasc\u00f3n\u2019s statement is 100 percent false.<\/p>\n

On December 7, 2020, Gasc\u00f3n issued an order, Special Directive 20-09. Like 20-08, the order that released Flores, it was a blanket policy that ended holding juveniles accountable for heinous criminal conduct. SD 20-09 stated: \u201cThe office will immediately END the practice of sending youth to the adult court system\u2026 All pending motions to transfer youth to adult court jurisdiction shall be withdrawn.\u201d<\/p>\n

No exceptions or individual factors were considered. No matter how heinous the crime, no matter how irredeemable the criminal, no matter the consequences of the policy, that person would remain in juvenile court.<\/p>\n

Bibiano was a direct beneficiary of Gasc\u00f3n\u2019s policy. Rodriguez was a direct victim of the same. Bibiano was a gang member who murdered two people and seriously injured a third. He was convicted by a jury. An appellate court upheld his conviction. Because of a change in the law, the only question now was whether he would serve his time in the juvenile system or state prison.<\/p>\n

However, that first option was not feasible. If the court selected the juvenile system because of Bibiano\u2019s age, that meant his immediate release even though he committed a double murder. Bibiano would receive no rehabilitative services, no monitoring, and no further punishment.<\/p>\n

The District Attorney\u2019s Office under the prior administration filed a motion asking the court asking to keep Bibiano in prison.<\/p>\n

When Gasc\u00f3n took office, he ordered that this motion be withdrawn. This meant that Bibiano\u2014despite murdering two people\u2014would be released back into the public.<\/p>\n

This decision was not based on the law or individual facts. Nor was any consideration given that because of Bibiano\u2019s age\u2014the rehabilitative services that Gasc\u00f3n says he believes in\u2014would not be offered to Bibiano.<\/p>\n

Nor did Gasc\u00f3n ever analyze the merits of the case (as he now claims). His policy did not allow for it. His decision was based entirely on his blanket-policy never to punish juveniles as criminals. He did this while ignoring the Court of Appeal order, the advice of the assigned trial attorney and other experienced prosecutors, and defying common sense.<\/p>\n

Gasc\u00f3n today wants the public to believe that he did all this analysis. He wants the public to ignore his administration\u2019s history of bad decision-making. He wants the public to forget about all the other absurd results caused by his policies.<\/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 Gasc\u00f3n\u2019s refused to hold Victor Bibiano accountable for a 2009 double murder. That decision was based solely on Gasc\u00f3n\u2019s ideological policy. There is no science, no data, and no consideration for public safety supporting his position. It was a policy based upon having the \u201clightest touch\u201d on all criminals. The same […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":106849,"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\/109169"}],"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=109169"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":109170,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109169\/revisions\/109170"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}