Judge says San Diego DA can take case back from LA DA

LOS ANGELES -- A Los Angeles County judge granted an unprecedented motion Monday, allowing the San Diego County district attorney to take back prosecutorial jurisdiction over part of a murder-robbery case it allowed the Los Angeles DA to prosecute until George Gascón was elected and ordered his deputies to dismiss sentence enhancements.

Superior Court Judge Jose L. Sandoval said he had never heard of a district attorney's office rescinding permission for another district attorney's office to try a case involving a defendant accused of committing crimes in multiple counties.

"I am not aware of any prohibition against the DA in San Diego nullifying the agreement they made with the DA in LA County," Sandoval said from the bench before allowing San Diego DA Summer Stephan to retake jurisdiction over the robbery charges in the case. "Absent any other authority or guidance concerning this, the DA is free to 'have those counts returned' to that county....and have those charges properly prosecuted there."

Stephan filed a motion Friday to withdraw consent for the LA DA's office to prosecute a defendant charged with committing five armed robberies in San Diego County before heading to Los Angeles and murdering two people.

Stephan filed the motion after learning of Gascón's intention to dismiss gun and double murder special circumstance sentence enhancements, resulting in the defendant being eligible for parole in 20 years if he is convicted.

After the hearing Stephan, who in her motion said Gascón's policies violate Marsy's Law which allows victims to have input about prosecutorial decisions, said she was pleased with Sandoval's ruling.

"This is an unprecedented request that I had to make, but this is about equal and fair justice for all, which includes the rights of victims, and the rights of defendants and the rights of the community, to be safe," Stephan said. "We can't, as district attorneys, pick whose rights we want to protect and whose rights we want to trample on. This is what was happening in this case and I could not stand for it, I had to speak and I had to take action."

Maxwell Szabo, a spokesman for Gascón's election campaign and transition team, said in a statement, "The defendant in this case is 34 years old and was facing 70 years to life in prison. As a result of this move by DA Stephan, the defendant now faces 50 years to life in state prison on his LA case, and possibly more if found guilty in his San Diego case.

"We question the wisdom of dragging these families through two separate cases, and with the parole board only granting in about 15% of cases it hears, the suggestion that this individual would get out, let alone reoffend, strains credulity. What's guaranteed is that two cases will cost taxpayers more than one," the statement read.

Stephan said in a phone interview after the hearing that much of that statement is "completely untrue."

"They failed to mention that it was a disaster of their own making, because they were moving to dismiss the gun allegations and the double murder allegations," Stephan said. "That's why his time was substantially reduced, not my action. They also made up the number that somehow my case would have netted them another 20 years, which is not true. It would have netted them only five more years, because they were dismissing the gun allegations."

Joining Stephan on Monday, Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert wrote a scathing letter to Gascón, saying she too would no longer give him prosecutorial jurisdiction over cases involving defendants who allegedly commit crimes in both Sacramento and Los Angeles counties.

"Your lack of concern for [victim's] rights disturbs me," the letter reads. "Because of your special directives, you are hereby given notice that, as the elected district attorney of Sacramento County, I will never grant you jurisdiction over any crimes that involve Sacramento County while these policies of yours remain in place."

The hearing became emotional Monday when after pleading with Sandoval not to drop the sentence enhancements, Jessica Jimenez, the stepdaughter of one of the slain men, turned to address the defendant who sat in the jury box with shackles on his wrists and ankles.

"You are a coward and sorry excuse for a human being," Jimenez said through tears. "You don't get to hide behind Gascón or your attorney."

Sandoval, who said to drop the sentence enhancements was "clearly not in the interest of justice," denied the LA DA's office's request to do so.

Upon taking office Dec. 7, Gascón immediately made sweeping changes to longstanding prosecution policies, announcing he would stop requests for cash bail and the death penalty, and ban prosecutors from seeking enhanced prison sentences. When Gascón deputies seek the dismissal of sentence enhancements, he has ordered them to read a script which says it is the LA DA's office's position that sentence enhancements that increase prison sentences "provide no deterrent effect ... or public safety benefit."

Sandoval set the next preliminary hearing for Feb. 26, 2021. People of the State of California v. Rhett Mckenzie Nelson. BA 478606 (L.A. Sup. Ct., filed June 10, 2019).