Gascón doesn’t understand the law or the job of a DDA

The Association of Deputy District Attorneys of Los Angeles recently filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of some of new District Attorney George Gascón's directives. In his opposition to the lawsuit, Gascón claims that when a prosecutor goes into court, she or he must do what Gascón orders, even if it is against the law, because it is a deputy district attorney's job! In Gascón's own words, he is the sole "official millions of county residents elected to implement criminal justice policies."

In this respect, clearly Gascón does not understand the law, a DDA's actual job, or even his own. He further has no respect for the will of the people of the state of California. He forgets, Los Angeles County is part of the state of California and state law is the law of the land. State laws are created by the California Legislature, not from a district attorney's own beliefs, opinions, or ideas on what the law should be. This thinking also directly ignores and violates the will of the "millions of county residents" who voted for cash bail, three strikes, enhancements, allegations, special circumstances, and the death penalty.

In Gascón's opposition papers, he views the men and women who sacrifice their time, body, and soul to protect the public, the DDA's, as nothing more than his "employees." Again, he is wrong. We are not his employees; we work for the people of the County of Los Angeles. Gascón says that even if his policies are "contrary to current law," this is no big deal because a DDA does not have to follow the law as written as long as he or she makes a good faith argument that the law should be changed. Again, Gascón is wrong. That is not how the law works in any form. If we break the law, we not only lose our ability to practice law, we are held criminally liable.

Prosecutors are held to an elevated standard of conduct. People v. Hill, 17 Cal. 4th 800, 819 (1998). "It is the duty of every member of the bar to maintain the respect due to the courts." Id. (citations omitted). A prosecutor is held to a standard higher than that imposed on other attorneys because of the unique function he or she performs in representing the interests, and in exercising the sovereign power, of the state. Id. (citing People v. Kelley, 75 Cal. App. 3d 672, 690 (1977)). As the U.S. Supreme Court has explained, the prosecutor represents a sovereignty whose obligation to govern impartially is as compelling as its obligation to govern at all; and whose interest, therefore, in a criminal prosecution is not that it shall win a case, but that justice shall be done. Id. (emphasis added) (citing Berger v. United States, 295 U.S. 78, 88 (1935)). It is improper for the prosecutor to misstate the law generally. Id. at 829 (citing People v. Bell, 49 Cal. 3d 502, 538 (1989)). A prosecutor's "good faith" belief is not relevant to the finding of misconduct; the standard is an objective one. Id. at 823 (citing People v. Alvarez, 14 Cal. 4th 155, 213 (1996)).

Gascón appears to be ordering his DDA's to break the law if he believes the law should be changed. This is perhaps because Gascón has never appeared in court. He has never argued a motion, painstakingly gone through jury instructions, questioned a witness, cross-examined a defendant, conducted jury selection or even made an opening statement or closing argument. He has never had to perform the solemn duty of questioning a rape victim or the parent of a murdered child in court.

Gascón appears to go even further and makes the law appear as if it is some type of game. Contrary to Gascón and his followers, a DDA never "wins" a case. There is no winning when a child is tortured and murdered, or a police officer is killed. There is only justice.

Gascón further claims that "data and science" support his policies and "vision" for Los Angeles. He repeatedly states that only 15% of parole hearings involving felony crimes including murders, rapes, and child sexual assaults are granted. Well, yet again, Gascón is wrong. In December 2020, the state of California granted parole to 39.6% of all inmates who appeared at a parole hearing. In Los Angles, where DDA's are not even permitted to attend parole hearings because of Gascón's directives, that number was 49.2% for December 2020.

The primary duty of a prosecutor is to seek and achieve justice within the bounds and in accordance with the law. Truth, honesty, integrity, and the law, are not just words to a prosecutor. They are everything. 