Author: Michael Rushford

The ABA Journal reports that last week the U.S. Supreme Court accepted Wooden v. United States for review.   The case involves a defendant’s pro se appeal of his enhanced sentence under the federal Armed Career Criminal Act.  William Wooden, a habitual felon, was arrested in November of 2014 for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Due to Wooden’s prior convictions; a 1989 conviction of aggravated assault, a 1997 conviction for ten burglaries, and a 2005 conviction for burglary, he was sentenced to 15 years.  In December of 2019 the Sixth Circuit upheld his conviction and sentence, rejecting Wooden’s claim that the 1997 burglaries, where he burglarized ten mini storage warehouses located at a single property, should only count as a single burglary.

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Representatives of crime victims, former and current prosecutors and Los Angeles political leaders launched the campaign to recall LA District Attorney George Gascón on February 27.  Former District Attorney Steven Cooley, former City Council member Dennis Zine and Former LA County Supervisor Mike Antonovich are backing the effort.  Ben Poston of the Los Angeles Times reports that the recall effort will have 160 days to gather roughly 580,000 signatures to put the recall on the ballot.  According to proponents their campaign already has 40,000 members.  Opposition to Gascón has been fueled by a list of “directives” he issued shortly after he was sworn in.   Among them is one which eliminated sentencing increases for habitual felons required by state law, and another essentially abolishing the death penalty for any murderer in Los Angeles County.   Another Gascón directive eliminates cash bail for arrestees, although 54% of Los Angeles County voters rejected a ballot measure to do this last November.

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The Los Angeles chapter of Black Lives Matter (BLM-LA) has announced that it is beginning a campaign to force the Los Angeles Federation of Labor to disband the city’s police unions.  David Zahmiser of the Los Angeles Times reports that Akili, an organizer with BLM-LA told reporters that the Los Angeles Police Protective League, which represents 9,800 police officers, promotes “white supremacy, anti-Blackness and a culture of deadly violence.”  He said the group would also seek to disband  the Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs Association, which he also claims is racist.   Last year BLM-LA demanded that the LA City Counsel cut police funding.  Last Summer, the Council cowed to their demands and slashed $150 million, cutting 250 officers from the force.  This at a  time when violent crime in Los Angeles is skyrocketing.   The Times piece calls BLM a “grass roots” organization, suggesting the it represents the views of most blacks.  A Gallup poll conducted last August reported that 81% of blacks wanted to either keep the current level of police patrols in their neighborhoods or increase them.

Setting the stage for a significant overhaul of its criminal justice system, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has signed a 700 page bill that he called a step toward “dismantling the systemic racism that plagues our communities..”   Safia Samee Ali of NBC News reports that the bill HB 3653 gives more rights to suspects, places new requirements on policing and eliminates cash bail for most arrestees, which supporters term “wealth-based detention.”  While law enforcement groups have opposed the elimination of cash bail, NPR reports that supporters point to studies that show little-to-no increase in crime caused by the near elimination of cash bail in New Jersey and Washington, D.C.

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Last December, newly elected Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón made headlines by dropping the special circumstances allegations for Rhett Nelson, a criminal who shot and killed off-duty LA Sheriff’s Deputy Joseph Solano and another man during a 2019 crime spree.  This prevented the cop-killer from receiving a sentence of life-without-parole and makes him eligible for release in 20 years.  Last Thursday, Gascón’s office ordered the dropping of special circumstances for Michael Mejia, an habitual felon gang member who in February of 2017, killed his cousin in order to steal his car and then gunned down a responding police officer, killing him and injuring his partner.  City News Service reports that dropping the specials in this case protects Mejia from being sentenced to death, and also gives him parole eligibility.

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A widely covered piece of breaking news, breathlessly reported by Jerry Lannelli in the Appeal, announced that Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón has sent an open letter resigning his membership in the California District Attorneys Association (CDAA). “Among other criticisms, the letter mentioned the CDAA’s failure to appoint a single person of color to its 17-member board of directors.”  The article cites Anne Irwin, head of Smart Justice California, who said “Gascón’s decision could dramatically alter the CDAA’s power in Sacramento and continue to break apart the notion that prosecutors have “one voice.” Los Angeles County and its 10 milion residents represent over one fourth of California’s population.”   There is only one problem with this story, Gascón is not a member of CDAA.

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The election, in recent years, of several so called “progressive” district attorneys (or state’s attorneys depending upon where you live) is confusing pheonomina that seems to defy common sense. “The prosecutors’ campaigns have been funded by the bogeyman of the Right, billionaire leftist George Soros, and animated by extreme left-wing political movements such as Black Lives Matter. The politicization of what was, in its origins, an apolitical law-enforcement function will have serious consequences for public safety and order,” notes Craig Trainor in his recent City Journal article.

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The claim that America’s criminal justice system is systemically racist is not new.  It was the basis of the 1991 riots in Los Angeles after a jury acquitted four police officers caught on video beating a black man named Rodney King.  The video was damning, but it did not show King, who was drunk and just one year out of prison for robbery, leading police on a 117 mph chase through Los Angeles.  It did not show King’s two passengers obey officer’s orders and remain unmolested, nor King’s refusal to comply and actually charge one of the officers.  The riot resulted in 63 deaths and $1 billion in damage.  Whatever had been done to close the racial divide in the years following the Rodney King riots seems to have evaporated in recent years.

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It is no longer a misdemeanor to possess heroin, crack, fentanyl or LSD in the state of Oregon.  Paul Best of Fox News reports that the state’s Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act, adopted last November, which takes effect today, essentially makes the possession of small amounts of even the most dangerous drugs an infraction, punishable by referral to treatment.  More than 100 organizations endorsed the measure.  Proponents cite studies of Portugal, the Netherlands and Switzerland, which decriminalized hard drugs years ago without dramatic negative effects other than increased drug use.  If drug use is no longer punishable in Oregon, yet dealing drugs remains illegal, will drug dealing become more and less profitable as drug use increases?   Under the new law, drug users will be connected with the services they need at Addiction Recover Centers.  The new law provides no consequences for addicts who do not show up for evaluation or treatment.

A Salvadorian national illegally in the United States is facing charges for murdering his ex-girlfriend.  Norma Riveiro and Lorena Bourdevaire Casillas of NBC4 in Los Angeles report that Herbert Nixon Flores was arrested in August for the severe beating of 35-year-old Karen Ruiz, but was released on bail days later.  On January 6, Flores can be seen on surveillance video fatally shooting Ruiz in front of their 3-year-old daughter.  In addition to being an illegal alien, Flores has an extensive criminal record including drug trafficking, illegal weapons, identity theft and domestic violence.  None of these crimes are considered serious or violent under current California law.  Flores had been deported by federal authorities 10 times since 1990.  California’s porous border and sanctuary state law, which protects criminal illegal aliens, played a role in his continued presence in the state and ultimately, the death of Karen Ruiz.