Looking to reform how the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office seeks justice, a public defender and a long-time police officer turned prosecutor are battling to replace incumbent Jackie Lacey as the county’s top law enforcement official.
Rachel Rossi, a former Los Angeles County and federal public defender who also worked on criminal justice reform in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, and George Gascon, a former Los Angeles police officer turned San Francisco police chief and district attorney, believe Lacey has failed during her eight years as District Attorney to institute reforms to reduce the numbers of people in jail and drop violent crime.
Lacey, 62, however, said her challengers are unqualified for the post running the largest prosecutor’s office in the nation. Lacey, the first black woman elected to the post, said she is indeed a reformer, but not “way over to where they are.” She touted her efforts to steer mentally ill and homeless people arrested for crimes from the jail system into treatment facilities as a top accomplishment that requires another term to develop.
“I have been leading the effort to get people who have a mental illness…permanently off the street and out of jails,” Lacey said. “I’m asking for another term because this issue is so pervasive and it’s been neglected for so long, I feel like it would take another four years to make a meaningful dent in the problem.”
Lacey said her reforms include shifting away from prosecuting women involved in human trafficking cases, starting a conviction review unit, talking about bail reform, dismissing warrants from the system, and eventually dismissing many marijuana convictions.
“I have plenty of concrete examples to support the notion that I have implemented reforms,” she said.
Gascon, 65, San Francisco police chief from 2009-2011, when he was appointed the city’s District Attorney, said his greatest accomplishment was dropping crime and violence rates in San Francisco to lows not seen since the 1950s and 60s, while reducing the number of people locked behind bars for minor charges. He said he wants to do the same in his return to Los Angeles, helping mentally ill defendants seek treatment and aiding the homeless.
Gascon said he is running against Lacey because “Public safety has not been enhanced and how much damage she is doing to the community that I love.”
Gascon authored Proposition 47, which was passed by voters in 2014 to reclassify many theft and drug cases from felonies to misdemeanors. Lacey and numerous police officials opposed the measure, saying it would lead to an increase in property crimes.
“I have been able to show you can be a reformer and actually reduce violent crime,” Gascon said. “She has done neither. She has not reduced crime and she is not a reformer.”
Rossi, 36, who worked on criminal justice reform for the U.S. Senate and House judiciary committees, including on the nomination hearings for Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, said Lacey has an “archaic vision of justice.” Rossi said her perspective working in federal government and locally on behalf of defendants would bring a new perspective to running the prosecutor’s office, understanding why people accused of crimes choose to fight charges or plead guilty, how the legal process affects them, such as losing their jobs and custody of their children.
“It will inform every policy from bail and charging and sentencing recommendations,” Rossi said.
Incarceration, Rossi, said should not be the answer for all of societies problems. She said she wants to “put the focus on justice, not just convictions at all cost.”
“I’m really excited about the movement of public defenders running for prosecutor across the country,” she said.
Here are some of the key issues in the race:
Death Penalty
Rossi and Gascon oppose the death penalty and say they will never utilize the law.
“Because of the current racial disparities and the brokenness of the system, there are too many reasons we should not be seeking death in L.A.,” Rossi said. “When you look at the finality of death and look at the only people we place on death row in LA County are people of color, this is a racial disparity we cannot afford.”
Calling the death penalty immoral and not a deterrent for crime, Gascon said voters in Los Angeles County are against using it. He said the law primarily impacts people of color and the lengthy appeal process is a burden for taxpayers.
“All it takes is one wrongful conviction,” Gascon said. “I’m not willing to take that chance.”
Lacey said the death penalty should be “used rarely” and applied fairly without bias. She said she has limited its use, citing cases including the Grim Sleeper, who murdered 10 women, and the torture death of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez in 2013.
“I’ve been exposed to some vicious and vile behavior and cases where I think, ‘Wow, life without the possibility of parole doesn’t seem like justice in the case,’” Lacey said.
Bail reform
Gascon and Rossi support eliminating the cash bail system, saying it unnecessarily keeps poor people behind bars because of their inability to pay. This keeps people in jail for lengthy periods while awaiting court hearings, even on minor charges. Each believes a person should start with the presumption they will be released, unless a judge decides differently after hearing evidence.
“That’s what judges are paid to do,” Gascon said.
Lacey said she agrees the money bail system needs reform and that no one should be kept in jail simply because they cannot afford it. However, she does not support entirely abolishing it. She supported SB 10 passed in 2018 that would create a pretrial release program to evaluate people arrested and release them if safe but giving judges the discretion to make the decisions. The law, which is challenged in court, would quickly release non-serious and non-violent offenders while keeping those arrested for serious violent felonies and criminal histories behind bars.
“I think there needs to be an option. People who are accused of molesting children, people accused of abusing their partner, murderers – those people ought to at least have some sort of risk assessment done,” Lacey said. “You are asking for trouble if you say, ‘no cash bail’ and you start releasing everybody who gets arrested.”
Officer-involved shootings
Community groups, including Black Lives Matter, have criticized Lacey, saying she does not file charges against police officers involved in shootings. Lacey, the 42nd person to hold her position, said it’s ironic that the first black female District Attorney is facing calls for her ouster, including at a recent debate.
“I want to say to the protesters, ‘Where have you been? Why now? I’m not the one shooting people,’” Lacey said. “I’m following the law.”
Lacey said the loss of lives that hurt families of color needs to be discussed “front and center,” but she disagrees with the “rudeness, cursing and threats” directed at her.
“I think real change comes when you are willing to sit down with people,” Lacey said. “Black Lives Matter is never willing to sit down and talk with me.”
Rossi supports an “outside office,” such as an independent prosecutor or special counsel, to investigate police shootings. Gascon also supports an independent prosecutor.
“The reality is I know from the ground up the dynamics of a police shooting,” Gascon said. “I do believe I have a much better understanding of what that looks like than (Lacey) ever will.”
Lacey said police shootings should continue to be investigated in her office. She said her office has filed criminal cases on more than 200 officers successfully, including an officer-involved shooting. She said cases are not filed based on protests, but on evidence and witness statements, and said the cases are hard to win because “People are willing to give officers more the benefit of the doubt than folks are willing to admit out in public.”
Mental Health
Lacey, Gascon and Rossi each believe in efforts to reduce the numbers of mentally ill people in jail and get those people into facilities for treatment instead of jail cells. Lacey said she began talking about the issue first, and Gascon is “following my playbook.” Lacey said her office of diversion has helped 3,000 people.
Gascon is not so generous with the numbers. He said Lacey’s number is 26 in recent months, and charges that Lacey spends more money on office supplies than mental health.
“You have to look at the facts,” he said. “She’s great at doing press conferences.”
Rossi said she would work hard to expand programs to place mentally ill in treatment and not in the jail system. Sometimes, she said, a public defender finds a bed for a mentally ill client and brings that information to the prosecutor. Prosecutors, she said, should have more power to help, instead of just prosecuting the case.
“I would find ways to divert people from ever entering the justice system,” she said.
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