San Francisco DA's office guts gang unit, morale said to be low

Morale is low at the San Francisco District Attorney's office after new DA Chesa Boudin fired several senior prosecutors, eliminated the office's gang unit, and called the firings "small," "precise," and "executive" at an all-staff meeting on Monday, according to multiple sources with ties to the office, including a current employee.

"The sentiment among employees is that it does not feel small to us," the employee said in an interview Tuesday, speaking on the condition of anonymity out of a stated fear of retaliation. "The attorneys he chose to fire were extremely well-respected across the board and mentors to many of us and friends to others. ... I'm not sure if Boudin understands or appreciates that to use the word 'executive' to describe career prosecutors -- not political appointments -- was misplaced."

Boudin has "de facto dismantled the gang unit" by moving the attorneys previously working within it to other positions, said another source who knows prosecutors in the DA's office and did not want to be identified.

Lili Nguyen, formerly an assistant DA in the gang unit, was promoted to managing attorney of the general felonies unit in a slew of promotions and new hires on Monday.

The managing attorney of the gang unit, Ana Gonzalez, was fired Friday. Hers was the only vacated managerial position that was not filled on Monday. On Tuesday, DA spokesperson Paula Lehman-Ewing confirmed the office did not have plans to put another attorney in the management role.

Two other sources, including the DA employee, confirmed that the gang unit had been hollowed out.

But Lehman-Ewing said no units in the DA's office have been officially dismantled, and could not confirm the number of attorneys who are currently working in the unit. "We're still doing a lot of reshuffling," she said.

A senior attorney quit Tuesday morning, the DA employee said.

Steven L. Cooley, the Los Angeles County district attorney from 2000 to 2012 who now runs a consultancy practice, said eliminating San Francisco's gang prosecution division would mean "all the progress that's been made ... under various district attorneys will be gone, the investigative techniques, the courtroom techniques."

"Gangs commit home invasion robberies, street robberies, murders," he added.

As to the sudden firing of managing attorneys, Cooley said, "If they were competent, dedicated prosecutors the chances of those cases resulting in an optimum verdict are pretty remote. They will either be compromised by a cheap plea or be lost and the criminal will go free."

Nancy Tung, a deputy DA in Alameda County who previously worked as a prosecutor in the San Francisco DA's office and ran against Boudin in the election last November, also said getting rid of the gang unit could have a negative impact. "It takes away an ability for investigators, and then prosecutors, to connect people to certain crimes and to work more efficiently," she said. "Once you take away prosecutors with specialized knowledge, it takes away from the prosecution."

A third anonymous source said the fired prosecutors were not given reasons for their terminations, and noted the restructuring would likely have a "negative effect" on long-running cases.

"What does that do to the victims who have suffered through these cases for years?" the source said. "What happens when they find out that the attorney they have come to trust has been purged and replaced with a defense attorney?" The comment referred to Boudin's hiring of two deputy public defenders from his former office.

Boudin ran on a campaign that included getting rid of gang enhancements, which he said were racist and unnecessary because they "pile on punishment in a system where punishment is already too severe," according to his campaign website. "People who are convicted of felonies are already subject to prison terms, often lengthy ones, for the crime they've been convicted of."

Cooley noted that the special gang allegation "is the law in California," part of the "California Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act" updated in 2012.

If a DA stops alleging gang enhancements with indictments, Cooley said, "I suggest he will violate his oath of office through an abuse of exercise of prosecutorial discretion by not enforcing laws passed by the Legislature."

Since he's taken office, Boudin has implemented a number of changes in prosecutorial policy. On Tuesday, his office announced it was immediately putting a primary caregiver diversion program into effect. The program, created under state law and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in October, allows criminal defendants who are primary caregivers of minor children and committed a qualifying offense to have their cases dismissed through a diversion program.

Boudin also said he would clear a backlog of old cases, end cash bail, stop implementing California's "three strikes" law, stop filing searches following minor traffic violations, and put into effect a new sexual assault response policy.