Woke Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon has been accused of allowing 10,000 cases to accumulate and prompting scores of prosecutors to resign.
Gascon, described as an “authoritarian” and “toxic” manager, allegedly drove out talent, demoted top attorneys and lashed out at anyone with opposing views, multiple sources who have worked with prosecutors told the New York Post.
According to a former Los Angeles prosecutor, Gascon’s “woke” policies have sparked public suspicion. He said generous plea agreements allow criminals to get out of prison without having to serve a harsh sentence, or crimes not being prosecuted at all.
“In my career as a prosecutor, I’ve never seen victims’ families really hate us until I came into this office,” a former assistant prosecutor told The Post. “We are hated by all the victims because of his policies, there is no prosecution and the penalties are low.”
“Gascón places great importance on justice for black and brown defendants, but the victims and their families are also black and brown.” Where is the justice for them? “We’re making them victims of criminal justice again.”
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon is under fire for his “wake” policy
Gascony is accused of allowing the accumulation of 10,000 cases and causing numerous prosecutors to resign
Eric Siddall, vice president of the LA County Association of Deputy District Attorneys, said the law firm’s reputation had been shattered.
“People know he’s hostile towards his employees,” he said.
“He has an authoritarian leadership style and takes retaliatory action against employees who don’t share his ideology,” he told The Post.
There are reportedly over 200 vacancies in the district attorney’s office with not enough candidates willing to fill them, sources told the Post.
The staff shortage has led to a backlog of up to 10,000 cases.
The prosecutor’s office denied that claim, saying there were only 139 vacancies and blamed “retirement and an earlier hiring freeze” for the staff shortage – but did not mention the 10,000 cases that have yet to be filed.
“During the hiring freeze, our office applied to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for permission to fill positions, but that application was denied,” said a source with the LA District Attorney’s Office.
“During this tenure, some prosecutors have migrated to other jurisdictions, while others have been hired by our firm from other jurisdictions.”
The Office argued that there are many reasons why a case may not be filed immediately, including the need for further investigation.
“A delay in filing a case does not prevent the prosecutor from filing a case at a later date as long as the statute of limitations is observed,” the prosecutor’s office said.
Former Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley, who headed the office from 2000 to 2012, told The Post that historically, recruitment had not been a problem until Gascon took office.
For Cooley, however, the lack of talent doesn’t come as a shock.
“I’m not surprised because some of the people he brought are just vile people.” Who would want to come and work here under such conditions? said Cooley.
Prosecutor Gascon’s approach to soft-tackling crime has come under criticism as violent crime rises in LA
This isn’t the first time Gascon’s staff have spoken out against him.
Nearly 20 lawsuits have been filed by senior members of the DA’s office who claim they have been removed from office for criticizing Gascon’s policies.
LA County Attorney Shawn Randolph was awarded $1.5 million in a lawsuit against Gascon, along with more than a dozen similar civil lawsuits filed by other employees.
In the case of Randolph, she argued that Gascon transferred her in retaliation for standing up to his progressive policies and notably failing to charge juveniles as adults in certain cases.
Gascon denied the allegation, saying the move was a “typical decision you make when dealing with a large workforce like the LA County District Attorney’s Office.”
One of the bureau’s top prosecutors, John McKinney, was preparing for the January 2021 trial for Briana Kupfer’s murder when he was suddenly transferred from the elite Major Crimes Unit to oversee misdemeanor cases from East LA, an unusual one Position for someone who was responsible for high-profile cases.
“I don’t do litigation and I have two attorneys.” “That’s how small the office is,” he told the Post. “And because there are only two attorneys, every time they go to court, I basically become the misdemeanor prosecutor for the first year in court.” So I’m in court an average of three days a week doing what I do 25 years instead of conducting complicated murder trials.”
McKinney told the Post he was transferred in retaliation for speaking out against Gascony policy.
Last year, a veteran Los Angeles prosecutor slammed the bright prosecutor for his soft policies given the city’s 8 percent increase in violent crime since he took office.
Mark Burnley, who has worked in the prosecutor’s office since 1999, condemned his boss in his suicide note in December 2022.
That same month, he was again criticized for showing his office “blatant special interest” in a case where singer John Legend nearly had his luxury Porsche stolen.
That year saw public outrage and numerous complaints about Gascón’s “wake” policy and “soft-on-crime” approach.
In February, Gascon suspended a lawyer who had “misrepresented” a transgender child molester who began identifying himself as a woman after DNA linked her to an unsolved case of a man beaten to death in the woods.
Last year, prosecutors instructed prosecutors not to press charges against immigrants because they could be deported, saying instead they should consider non-criminal schemes.
Gascon has previously defended his policy choices, saying that a “tough approach to crime has failed” and that his aim is “to dramatically change a system that has served no one, not the victims of crime, not the accused and not the Publicity.” .’
But in the face of multiple attempts to remove the left-leaning district attorney, many voters disagree. According to a poll by the Long Beach Center for Urban Politics and Policy, a poll favored that nearly half of Long Beach voters favor recalling the progressive DA in 2022.
Los Angeles County Assistant District Attorney John McKinney challenges George Gascon in 2024 by running for state attorney general
McKinney said he was transferred in retaliation for speaking out against Gascony policy
Employees still under the DA feel undervalued as they try to handle the immense workload.
One prosecutor told The Post: “They have mid-career prosecutors doing the heavy lifting and they’re sick of being treated like shit.”
“The problem is that people started leaving because they were so fed up with his politics that those of us who stayed have to carry twice or three times the caseload.”
Gascon’s term ends in 2024 and he faces an uncertain future in the upcoming elections.
Represented in the race to succeed Gascon are Assistant Attorney John McKinney, Jonathan Hatami and former US Assistant Attorney General Nathan Hochma.