Tag: gascón

Gascón still trails Hochman by wide margin in L.A. D.A. race, poll shows

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With two days left before election day, a new poll shows Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón has cut slightly into challenger Nathan Hochman’s lead in the race for the incumbent’s seat.

But Gascón is still down 25 points in the closely watched contest. While that’s an improvement over the 30-point deficit he was staring down in the same poll on Oct. 8, it’s still no better than the 25-point margin he faced in the survey on Aug. 18.

If the election were held today, 50% of likely voters would vote for Hochman, a former federal prosecutor, and 25% would cast a ballot for Gascón, a former LAPD assistant chief who swept into office in 2020 on a progressive platform of criminal justice reform. That leaves 25% undecided, according to the poll of 1,205 likely L.A. County voters from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, co-sponsored by The Times.

The poll comes near the end of a period of intense politicking by both candidates and their supporters. Since the last Berkeley-LA Times poll results were released on Oct. 8, Gascón and Hochman have held a series of campaign events across the county, addressed hundreds of voters, and faced off in a contentious debate.

Mark DiCamillo, director of the poll conducted online in English and Spanish between Oct. 22-29, said the slight narrowing of the gap between Gascón and Hochman shouldn’t offer much hope to the incumbent.

“It’s really not all that significant a change. The voters have pretty much stuck where they were before, with a quarter not really paying much attention,” he said.

Negative opinions on Hochman increased slightly since last month’s poll, which DiCamillo attributed partly to Hochman having the “scarlet letter” of being a former Republican in deep blue L.A. County, but his unfavorability still pales in comparison to the bad vibes voters seem to get from Gascón. Forty-nine percent of likely voters have a somewhat or strongly unfavorable view of Gascón, compared to just 15% for Hochman, who has also served as a former assistant U.S. attorney general and past president of the L.A. City Ethics Commission.

“It’s mostly a vote on Gascón,” DiCamillo said. “Hochman is the other candidate in this race and he’s in that fortunate position of running against an unpopular incumbent.”

About 70% of Gascón’s supporters said partisan affiliation played a role in their decision, and it’s possible undecided voters could trickle toward the incumbent given Democrats hold a massive advantage in voter registration in L.A. County.

Hochman is running as an independent and has worked to distance himself from his past GOP affiliation, saying he plans to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in this year’s presidential race.

Jamarah Hayner, Gascón’s chief campaign strategist, said the narrowing deficit is a sign that his campaign’s ground game is impacting the race.

“What we hear when we talk to voters are serious concerns about Hochman’s history with the Republican Party and the likelihood that he’ll roll back progress on issues like police accountability and wrongful convictions,” she said in a statement. “So every phone call and door knock matters as we get down to the wire.”

Hochman countered that the poll results are still indicative of an electorate frustrated with Gascón. A former two-term D.A. in San Francisco, Gascón has faced multiple lawsuits from his own staff in L.A. over implementation of his policies. He has also been forced to confront the perception that crime is rising — even as he points to statistics showing declines in some categories.

“The people of Los Angeles County are fed up with crime and ready for new leadership in the D.A.’s Office,” Hochman said in a statement. “I appreciate that voters want a prosecutor like myself with 34 years’ criminal justice experience who will base decisions on just the facts and law and not on a personal political agenda.”

Asked about a list of factors in the D.A.’s race, 54% of voters selected “ability to prosecute cases involving violent crimes” as influencing their decision; 48% cited “making reforms to the criminal justice system.”

But that hasn’t translated into similar levels of support for the incumbent, whom Hochman has repeatedly slammed as soft on crime. Gascón has countered by arguing that Hochman wants to return to mass incarceration and pull back on police reform and accountability.

Asked if Gascón should have any reason for hope on election day, DiCamillo said: “Unless the polling world is turned upside down, I would say no.”

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James Queally, Connor Sheets

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November 3, 2024
D.A. backs resentencing Menendez brothers, paving possible path to freedom

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Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón will ask a judge to resentence Erik and Lyle Menendez, two brothers serving life sentences for killing their parents, a move that could pave the way for their release.

Gascón will request the brothers be sentenced for murder and be eligible for parole immediately, he said during a news conference Thursday.

“I came to a place where I believe that under the law resentencing is appropriate, and I am going to recommend that,” Gascón said. “What that means in this particular case is that we’re going to recommend to the court that the life without the possibility of parole be removed and that they will be sentenced for murder.”

The two brothers were sentenced to life without parole after a jury found them guilty of killing their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills home with a pair of shotguns. The 1989 killings, and the televised trial that followed, has sparked documentaries, movies and television series that have made the brothers two of the most publicly recognizable convicts.

The brothers have pursued appeals for years without success, but now they could have a path to freedom. A judge will ultimately decide if the brothers will be released.

In 1989, Erik and Lyle Menendez bought a pair of shotguns with cash, walked into their Beverly Hills home and shot their parents while they watched a movie in the family living room. Prosecutors said Jose Menendez was struck five times, including in the back of the head, and Kitty Menendez crawled on the floor wounded before the brothers reloaded and fired a final fatal blast.

Initially, the killings were rumored to be mob hits.

Prosecutors would argue the slayings were driven by greed and the brothers’ desire to get their parent’s multimillion-dollar estate.

But during the trials, Erik and Lyle Menendez and their attorneys detailed what they said were years of violent sexual abuse the brothers experienced at the hands of their father.

Earlier this month, more than 20 relatives of the brothers pleaded at a news conference for the pair to be released.

“If Erik and Lyle’s case were heard today, with the understanding we now have of abuse and [post-traumatic stress disorder], there is no doubt in my mind that their sentencing would have been very different,” said Anamaria Baralt, a cousin of the siblings.

During Gascón’s tenure as top prosecutor, he’s obtained new sentences for more than 300 people, including 28 who were convicted of murder, but the Menendez brothers are the highest-profile convicts to have their sentences reduced at the district attorney’s request.

Attorneys for the brothers last year filed a habeas motion, arguing that new evidence backed their claim that they were sexually abused by their father for years before the slayings.

The filing included a letter Erik Menendez sent to his cousin in December 1988 — eight months before the killings — that appeared to corroborate the claims of abuse. It also included a declaration from Roy Rosselló, a member of the boy band Menudo, who alleged that Jose Menendez raped him in 1984 when he was 13 or 14 years old.

Gascón’s office has been reviewing the motion and the case for more than a year.

Earlier this month, he said his office had a “moral and ethical obligation to review what is being presented to us and make a determination.”

There is no question that the brothers killed their parents, but Gascón has said the issue is whether the jury heard evidence that their father molested them, and if that evidence might have affected the outcome of the trial.

Evidence of sexual abuse, including testimony from friends and relatives of the family, was included when the siblings were first tried which ended in hung juries.

But when they were tried again, together, the jury did not hear much of the testimony supporting their allegations of sexual abuse. The two were convicted of first-degree murder in March 1996.

The case has faced renewed public attention sparked by television series and documentaries that focused on the notorious killings. A Peacock docuseries, “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed,” raised allegations that Jose Menendez, an RCA Records executive, had sexually assaulted Rosselló.

Gascón’s decision has been criticized by those who say the move is a political ploy to bolster his reelection campaign.

Kitty Menendez’s 90-year-old brother, Milton Andersen, released a statement on Thursday criticizing the decision to seek new sentences for the brothers. He said Gascón has refused to meet with him to discuss his decision before announcing it to the press.

Andersen’s attorney, Kathy Cady, said the district attorney “manipulate[d] the facts for a fleeting chance to salvage his political career.”

On Tuesday, Cady filed an application for an amicus curiae brief to oppose the possible resentencing of the brothers.

Gascon’s election challenger, Nathan Hochman, has also questioned the timing of the D.A.’s action in the case, suggesting he’s making headlines to try and save his flagging reelection bid. Polls show Gascon trailing Hochman by as much as 30 percentage points, and a Times analysis of campaign finances shows the challenger has raised significantly more funds than the district attorney.

Dmitry Gorin, a criminal defense attorney, said the evidence was clear in the initial trial that the killings were premeditated, but the case seemed to have a chance to be revisited given the liberal policies of the district attorney’s office under Gascón.

A judge is likely to approve the prosecutor’s request, given that it’s also supported by the brothers’ defense attorneys.

“I give the defense credit for timely filing,” he said. “If this was filed in December with likely a new D.A., they aren’t getting out. Most of the [district attorneys] in California wouldn’t let them out.”

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Salvador Hernandez, Richard Winton

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October 24, 2024
D.A. Gascón to announce charges Monday in killing of actor Johnny Wactor

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Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón will announce criminal charges Monday in the slaying of “General Hospital” actor Johnny Wactor, who was killed in May by men suspected of trying to steal the catalytic converter from his car.

Los Angeles Police Department Interim Chief Dominic Choi will also be on hand at the press conference scheduled for 3 p.m. at the Hall of Justice downtown, according to a news release from the L.A. County district attorney’s office issued Sunday.

Four men were arrested in connection to the killing, LAPD announced last week. Law enforcement sources told The Times the investigation had focused on Florencia 13 gang members tied to catalytic converter thefts in the region.

After reviewing videos and interviewing witnesses, LAPD homicide detectives identified three men, one with distinctive facial tattoos, who they say jacked up Wactor’s car on Hope Street near Pico Boulevard in order to steal its catalytic converter on the morning of May 25. Wactor was shot when he confronted the men.

Robert Barceleau, Leonel Gutierrez and Sergio Estrada were booked on suspicion of murder Thursday and held in lieu of $2-million bail, according to L.A. County Sheriff’s Department records. An additional person, Frank Olano, 22, was arrested on suspicion of being an accessory to murder.

Wactor had just finished a late night bartending shift at the nearby Level 8 bar about 3:20 a.m when he and co-worker Anita Joy were walking to his car and interrupted the thieves.

Wactor first thought his car was being towed, Joy said. After realizing that wasn’t the case, he asked the men to leave, showing his open hands to indicate he wasn’t a threat. Nevertheless, he was shot at close range, Joy said. A security guard from the bar said he found Joy and the mortally wounded Wactor and called 911.

After the shooting, the suspects fled north on Hope Street in a stolen getaway car described as a 2018 black four-door Infiniti Q50 with a tan interior, police said.

Thieves target catalytic converters because they contain precious metals, including rhodium, palladium and platinum. They can sell for hundreds of dollars to auto parts suppliers or scrapyards, where they can be melted down and the valuable metals extracted.

Thefts of catalytic converters skyrocketed in California during the COVID-19 pandemic. That prompted new state laws that make it illegal for recyclers to buy the parts from anyone other than the vehicle’s legal owner or a licensed dealer. Penalties were increased for buyers who fail to certify that a catalytic converter wasn’t stolen.

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Ben Poston

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August 18, 2024
Top advisor to Los Angeles D.A. Gascón is charged with illegal use of confidential police records

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California’s attorney general filed criminal charges Wednesday against one of L.A. County Dist. Atty. George Gascón’s top advisors, who supervises high-profile and sensitive cases including police misconduct, fraud and public corruption.

Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta announced the 11 felony counts against Assistant Dist. Atty. Diana Teran in a press statement. He accused her of improperly downloading confidential records of police officers in 2018 while she was working for the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department. Teran then “impermissibly used that data” after joining Gascón’s office three years later, Bonta said.

The confidential records concern 11 sheriff’s deputies, according to a criminal complaint filed in L.A. Superior Court. The deputies’ names were not included in the court filing.

The announcement of criminal charges against one of Gascón’s top advisors — particularly one so closely tied to his agenda of law enforcement accountability and criminal justice reform — sent shock waves across the state’s legal community and was expected to have a far-reaching impact on active and future criminal cases handled by Gascón’s office, while also fueling fresh controversy as he pursues reelection this year.

“No one is above the law,” said Bonta, a fellow Democrat and police reform advocate, in a statement issued by his press office. “Public officials are called to serve the people and the State of California with integrity and honesty. At the California Department of Justice, we will continue to fight for the people of California and hold those who break the law accountable.”

Teran referred questions to her attorney, James Spertus, who called the case “dead on arrival” and said he was stunned to see the charges, since his client had been cooperating with a criminal investigation into the allegations.

“They’re charging her for doing something within the scope of her employment, that she has a duty to do,” Spertus said in an interview Wednesday.

Teran, who has been a lawyer for more than 35 years, worked for years as a deputy district attorney in L.A. County before assuming posts involving law enforcement monitoring and oversight. In 2018, she served as a constitutional policing advisor to the Sheriff’s Department, then as a consultant to the Office of Inspector General, which provides oversight to the department. In 2019, she became a law enforcement accountability advisor with the L.A. County public defender’s office.

After Gascón’s election victory, Teran joined his administration in early 2021 as a special advisor and later began running the Justice System Integrity Division, or JSID, which handles prosecutions of police and attorney misconduct. Her hiring was one of many criticized by longtime prosecutors frustrated by Gascón’s willingness to empower attorneys who had previously done defense work.

Gascón recently promoted Teran to assistant district attorney, giving her supervisory authority over units that prosecute organized crime, white collar crime and corruption, as well as crimes by law enforcement and attorneys.

Teran’s current employment status is unclear, and a spokesperson for Gascón’s office declined to specify whether she remains an assistant district attorney.

The criminal complaint offers little detail about the underlying allegations. A source familiar with the case who was not authorized to speak on the record said the charges related to documents that Teran had downloaded while she worked at the Sheriff’s Department and were subsequently provided to the discovery unit at the D.A.’s office.

Spertus said that the investigation into his client was sparked by a complaint from former Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who routinely clashed with those who attempted to provide oversight of his department, including Teran. In a livestream Wednesday evening, Villanueva echoed that, saying that in 2019 he alerted the FBI and the attorney general to concerns about Teran downloading information he described as a “massive data breach.”

Though the complaint does not spell out what data Teran may have illegally misused, Spertus said he believed state prosecutors were erroneously trying to charge Teran for uploading public documents to the district attorney’s “Brady List.”

Under the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brady vs. Maryland, prosecutors must turn over evidence favorable to defendants, which could include information that undermines a police officer’s credibility or reveals past dishonesty or wrongdoing. The Brady List refers to a database of law enforcement officers who have been accused or convicted of on-duty misconduct.

Spertus believed the documents and data in question were either obtained through public court files or involved findings of dishonesty against sheriff’s deputies, which would be public record under Senate Bill 1421, California’s landmark police transparency law.

That law, which makes information about serious uses of force, allegations of sexual assault or dishonesty by California police officers a public record, did not go into effect until Jan. 1, 2019. Teran is alleged to have obtained the information in question in 2018.

“It’s unsustainable on its face,” Spertus said of the allegation. “You don’t need permission to use public information. They can’t say that she wrongfully took anything,” he said, adding, “She had documents in her possession. She had an obligation to her employer to build out the Brady database.”

In a statement to The Times, Villanueva called the charges against Teran “a vindication of my administration” and credited state prosecutors with uncovering “the truth.”

“Many more public corruption cases involving Los Angeles County elected leaders and their appointees are being investigated by Mr. Bonta’s office, and based on what I know of the evidence, I expect further indictments,” Villanueva added.

Gascón did not directly address the charges against Teran, but in a statement he defended his office’s handling of confidential law enforcement records.

“When I took office, we developed a protocol that ensured we complied with our constitutional obligations under Brady — which requires us to turn over potentially exculpatory evidence to the defense, a category that includes law enforcement’s prior misconduct — while simultaneously complying with state and federal law around privacy. I stand by that protocol,” Gascón said Wednesday.

Gascón emphasized that the case would not deter him from carrying out his agenda.

“I remain committed to upholding transparency and ensuring police accountability within Los Angeles County,” he said in the statement.

Gascón’s opponent in the district attorney’s race, Nathan Hochman, pounced on the charges.

“This is just the latest example of Gascón’s demonstrated record of poor judgment and lack of leadership in running the district attorney’s office,” Hochman said in a written response. “Promoting Teran to Assistant District Attorney, ironically in charge of ethics and integrity, even occurred despite legitimate objections from many experienced prosecutors.”

This is not the first time Teran has been publicly accused of misconduct while in Gascón’s employ.

Late last year, the former second in command of the JSID unit filed a civil suit alleging that Teran ordered prosecutors to delay announcing the decision not to charge a sheriff’s deputy in a high-profile excessive-force case because of how it might affect the reelection bid of then-Sheriff Villanueva.

Richard Pippin, president of the Assn. of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, the union that represents rank-and-file sheriff’s deputies, called for a broader investigation into the “deeply troubling” allegations.

“During her tenure with the sheriff’s department, Diana Teran’s contempt for the people who strive to keep our communities safe was apparent, and so we weren’t surprised to see District Attorney George Gascón place her in a position as one of his top advisors,” Pippin said in a statement Wednesday. “ALADS is demanding a complete investigation of all matters, access to sensitive records and other actions taken by Diana Teran and her staff during her entire tenure. This investigation should not be limited in scope or effort.”

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James Queally, Keri Blakinger, Matt Hamilton

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April 24, 2024
D.A. George Gascón faces 9 challengers in one of the largest primary fields in L.A. history

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When Jackie Lacey sought a second term as Los Angeles’ top prosecutor in 2016, she wound up running unopposed.

The man who ousted her from office, George Gascón, has a much steeper hill to climb to win reelection next year.

During his first term in office, Gascón has frequently been at odds with his own prosecutors and law enforcement, who say his policies aimed at reducing mass incarceration and racially disparate outcomes in the criminal justice system have led to spikes in violence. Data show the violent crime rate is trending down, but some experts have cautioned against making connections between short-term shifts in the crime rate and a prosecutor’s policies.

Gascón’s positions have motivated one of the largest primary fields in the history of the office, with a mix of former federal prosecutors, county judges and deputy district attorneys taking a run at the self-described “godfather of progressive prosecutors” in 2024.

District attorney’s elections have become more competitive across the nation in recent years as reform-minded progressives challenge more traditional prosecutors. Gascón’s 2020 tilt with Lacey saw millions raised in a nationally watched race that drew endorsements from presidential candidates.

Gascón, who announced his own reelection campaign and claimed the endorsement of L.A.’s powerful Federation of Labor last week, still figures to be well-funded and has largely retained the support of the burgeoning L.A. progressive bloc that vaulted him into office in 2020.

But in a sign of the divide in the race, Gascón declined to attend the first debate last week. Hosted by police unions that spent millions against the progressive candidate in 2020, contenders at the forum spent two hours making the case that Gascón is unfit for office and needs to be replaced.

Here are the contenders vying for Gascón’s office next March, listed in the order they announced their candidacy:

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James Queally

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October 22, 2023