Author: Michael Rushford

Four shooting deaths In Los Angeles over the past weekend marked a milestone in La La land.  As Kevin Rector & Nicole Santa Cruz report in the Los Angeles Times,  for the first time in eleven years there have been 300 murders in the city, and the year is not over yet.  The victims last weekend included a 17-year-old boy, two men aged 50 and 20, and a 41-year-old woman.   A crime analyst from New Orleans told the Times that homicides are spiking in several big cities, which he suggests discounts a local cause for the increase in LA.  He does note that a “loss of police legitimacy” might have had an impact.  Meanwhile in New York City Mayor de Blasio is “real concerned” about the rising crime in the subway, including a surge of commuters being pushed onto the tracks.

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A DC District judge stayed the federal execution of rapist/murderer Orlando Hall hours before he was scheduled to be put to death today.  The Associated Press reports that in her ruling District Judge Tanya Chutkan, a former public defender appointed to the bench by President Obama, was “deeply concerned” about the lethal injection Hall was to receive, which she concludes “violates federal law.”

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In an unanimous decision announced on November 18, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of Melvin Knight, for the torture and murder of 30-year-old woman in February of 2010.  The Associated Press reports that Knight was one of two men sentenced to death for the killing.   The victim, Jennifer Daugherty, was mildly handicapped with the mental capacity of a child and trusted everyone she met.

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A unanimous panel of California’s First District Court of Appeal has ruled that a murderer who stabbed a woman 38 times and tried to burn her body cannot be tried in adult court.   Evidence introduced at a pretrial hearing indicates On July 16, 2018, 17-year-old Kevin P. visited the apartment of 38-year-old Kishana Harley allegedly to smoke marijuana with her.  Once inside, he produced a knife and stabbed the woman to death.  He then tried to burn the woman’s body, before taking her cell phone and her car.  The defendant’s DNA was found on the murder weapon along with the victim’s blood.

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Bowing to the police reform movement spurred by Black Lives Matter, the City of Los Angeles has announced its plans for cutting $150 million from its police department.  Joel Fox has this piece in California Political Review detailing what cuts will be made.  Among them will be a reduction of roughly 400 officers, cuts in air support (helicopters), robbery homicide, narcotics and gang divisions.  Desks at police stations will only be staffed on weekdays.  Investigations of automobile accidents will end, and those involved will be required to report them online.  This includes accidents with injuries.

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In her piece in today’s  City Journal , Manhattan Institute scholar Heather MacDonald breaks down the Biden/Harris plan for reforming criminal justice.  She notes that the plan reads like a “Black Lives Matter wish list.”   Items on the list include re-instituting  the Obama era requirement that police departments under consent decrees report weekly to a federal judge justifying that their efforts to enforce the law are not racist.  Under Biden/Harris the requirement also extends to the charging decisions of District Attorneys.  The goal is to “strip police officers and prosecutors of their discretion regarding whom to arrest and whom and how to charge.”

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While there are still several hundred thousand votes yet to be counted, it appears that former San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón has defeated incumbent Jackie Lacey in the race for Los Angeles County District Attorney.   Last year, Gascón resigned his post in San Francisco supposedly to take care of his mother in Los Angeles, then almost immediately announced he would challenge Lacey.  His record in San Francisco had been abysmal.  The city became the property crime capitol of America last year, and homicides increased dramatically under Gascón’s progressive anti-law enforcement leadership.  Even ultra-liberal SF Mayor London Breed endorsed Lacey.   Yet Gascón won the LA vote by a margin of 7.5%.  How did this happen?

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Twelve people were arrested Tuesday night and another three were arrested Thursday as rioters continue to attack police, government buildings, businesses and some neighborhoods in Portland.  The widespread violence Tuesday, as reported by KATU TV, involved crowds of rioters which smashed windows at businesses and church, and threw fireworks and bottles at police.  Several of those arrested were carrying loaded firearms.  William Mansell of Good Morning America reports that rioters on Thursday targeted the suburban home of a Portland City Commissioner throwing  paint-filled balloons at the house.  It was the fourth time this week that the Commissioner’s home had been attacked.  After police dispersed the rioters from the neighborhood, they moved downtown and set fire to City Hall.