Murder case involving 3 counties might mean fight with LA DA

Though charges have not been filed in the case of a mother arrested on suspicion of murdering her three children and fleeing across the state, the case could set in motion another jurisdictional dispute between Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón and his counterparts who have challenged his charging decisions.

The Los Angeles Police Department has said Liliana Carrillo is the sole suspect in the killing of her three children in a Los Angeles County apartment over the weekend. After she allegedly fled, she was arrested and pleaded not guilty to felony carjacking in Kern County Superior Court on Wednesday afternoon.

In a criminal complaint filed Tuesday, Kern County prosecutors accused Carrillo of carjacking a silver Toyota Tacoma and attempting to steal a Ford 150 truck on April 10, hours after she allegedly fled her Reseda apartment, where authorities say a family member discovered her three children dead.

She was arrested Saturday afternoon in Ponderosa, a small community in Tulare County, North of Sequoia National Forest. She was transferred to Kern County jail on Monday, where she's being held on $2 million bail.

Los Angeles police investigators have not released any information about the case since Monday, when they said in a news release that the children are all believed to be under 5. Court records from Tulare County show that Carrillo had recently been in a custody dispute with her domestic partner.

Police stated in their news release they plan to extradite Carrillo to Los Angeles.

Depending on the findings of the police investigation, it's possible murder charges could be filed in Kern County, even though the slayings took place in Los Angeles because Carrillo is accused of crossing county lines in the commission of the crimes. Kern County Assistant District Attorney Joseph A. Kinzel said by phone Wednesday that the office is waiting for the police investigation to wrap up before considering such charges.

"We have not received anything from them, so until there's a case that's investigated, that's a bridge that would be crossed when we get there," Kinzel said.

Kern County District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer has been an outspoken critic of Gascón's special directives, which he says are designed to reduce incarceration and end racial disparities in the criminal justice system. In an op-ed in a Bakersfield newspaper in December, Zimmer suggested Gascón's policies as "an offer no criminal can refuse."

"Criminals, you must really ask yourselves: Why continue living in our county when you can take your criminal activity to Los Angeles, where you will be greeted with open arms?" she wrote.

Gascón has not commented on the Carrillo case, and his spokespersons did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

It wouldn't be the first time a DA from another county wrangled with Gascón over a murder case. And it wouldn't be the first time a DA from another county fought Gascón for jurisdiction over a case involving both counties.

In February, Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer went to court himself in Los Angeles to challenge the dismissal of enhancement charges against a man who pleaded no contest to kidnapping and killing two children, one of whom was abducted from Orange County. Spitzer dropped the special circumstances charges he filed in Orange County, which could have resulted in the death penalty, after LA prosecutors agreed to a plea deal of life without parole.

In January, San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan successfully petitioned a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge to take back a case involving a defendant charged with committing a series of robberies in San Diego before driving to LA and murdering two people.

Fresno County DA Lisa Smittcamp and Sacramento DA Anne Marie Schubert also sent letters toGascón after his election informing him they would never grant him jurisdiction over their cases.

Though progressives have hailed Gascón's policies as long overdue and necessary to address problems they say are embedded within the criminal justice system, his counterparts' sentiments aren't isolated to outside the office. Gascón has been sued by the union that represents many of his prosecutors, and some of his directives were found unlawful by a superior court judge. Gascón is appealing.

But inside courtrooms, some deputies continue to object to his policies, particularly those that require them to dismiss enhancement allegations that can increase prison sentences. Gascón told a group of defense attorneys on Tuesday night they can report noncompliant prosecutors to his office if they don't get a "satisfactory answer" from them about why they are not following his directives.

"Whatever you bring, we'll make sure that the people within the chain of command review it,"Gascón said. "We're not always going to agree. Obviously, we're in an adversarial system, and that's the beauty of our system, but this is a hard shift for our folks, and we're trying to provide more clarity every day and training."

Carrillo is due back in court on May 7.