Author: Michael Rushford

A spate of murders in Minneapolis last week has focused attention on the impact of the city’s progressive, lenient treatment of juvenile and habitual adult offenders. Audrey Conklin of Fox News reports that, beginning on April 29, there were six shootings over 24 hours which left six people dead and five others injured. The city has been the epicenter of anti-police policies since the 2020 George Floyd riots with violent crime and murder up dramatically since 2019, while crime has declined nationally. “Minneapolis, sadly, is experiencing the tragic consequences of years of anti-police rhetoric and failed leadership from the Minneapolis State Council and the lunatic county prosecutor of Hennepin County in which Minneapolis sits,” said Jim Schultz, 2022 candidate for state Attorney General and president of the Minnesota Private Business Council. “When city officials demonize law enforcement and slash police budgets and refuse to prosecute the criminals, the results are bought on the streets.”

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Governor Gavin Newsom’s Department of Corrections has authorized a twice-deported Mexican national, sentenced to ten years in prison for killing two teens, to be released after serving 3.5 years. Art Pedroza of New Santa Ana reports that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) plans to release Oscar Eduardo Ortega-Anguiano in July.  The illegal alien repeat felon was convicted of the 2021 death of 19-year-old Anya Varfolomeev and 19-year-old Nicholay Osokin when he crashed his speeding car into them while driving drunk and without a license.  It was not Ortega-Anguiano’s first run-in with law enforcement.  Over the past several years the CDCR has increased the good-time and rehabilitation credits for violent criminals to the point where most only serve a fraction of their sentences. The CDCR is under the direct authority of the Governor who has publicly announced his goal of emptying out state prisons.

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A social justice celebrity, honored for his advocacy for criminal justice reform (read no consequences for criminals) has been charged with murder days after Soros-bankrolled District Attorney Larry Krasner welcomed his endorsement for re-election. Ellie Rushing of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Sergio Hyland an organizer for Pennsylvania’s progressive Working Families Party, also funded by Soros, and another reform group, Straight Ahead, served over 20 years in prison for two previous murders.  Following his release from prison Hyland has advocated for alternatives to incarceration, the elimination of bail and reducing policing as the solutions to crime in Philadelphia.  Krasner, who has boasted about his record of reduced prosecutions, elimination of cash bail and shorter sentences for criminals, said that he was “honored” to accept the endorsement of Hyland and Working Families in early April.  Eight days later Hyland was arrested for the July 2024 execution-style murder of 30-year-old Jasimane Ransom, a mother of two.

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An illegal alien from Guatemala has been arrested along with his uncle for the March 31, 2025 murder of his American girlfriend.  Adam Sabes of Fox News reports that 23-year-old Lesbia Mileth Ramirez Guerra’s body was found buried in a forested area of Maryland’s Prince George’s County on April 17.  She was the mother of two children.  The illegal, Keycy Robinson Alexi Barrera-Rosa, has been charged with her murder.  Barrera-Rosa’s uncle, Rolvin Eduardo Barrera-Barrera, has been charged as an accessory to the murder.  Barrera-Rosa and his uncle both crossed the U.S. border into Texas in 2019 and were given a notice to appear before a judge at a later date.  They moved to Prince George’s County, a sanctuary for illegals, where they remained protected from federal immigration authorities until their arrest.   According to a story in the Southern Maryland News, police believe that the young mother was strangled to death.

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Five years ago New York state adopted “bail reform” which essentially eliminated bail for every arrestee except for murderers and rapists. Two years earlier the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court announced the “Brangan Doctrine,” requiring judges to consider an arrestee’s ability to pay as the primary consideration when setting bail. This has resulted in most offenders being released on low or zero bail, even after dozens of prior arrests. Similar laws or judicially-imposed limits on bail are in place in cities that include Chicago, Philadelphia, Seattle, Austin and DC.  Some of these “reforms” were adopted by cities and counties, some were imposed by progressive District Attorneys, some came from the legislature and some were ordered by judges. After the progressive District Attorney in Los Angeles was voted out last fall, his broad zero bail policy was abandoned by the new DA. But under California law those arrested for almost all property crimes, including auto theft and most drug crimes, still require release without bail.  The California Supreme Court is currently considering a “Brangan doctrine” approach to bail in a case called In re Kowalczyk, which, based on the court’s decision, could impose the ability-to-pay rule for the entire state. CJLF filed argument in opposition in that case.  In places where these reforms are the law, the criminal justice system has become a revolving door, with criminals arrested for serious crimes such assault, illegal possession of firearms and trafficking deadly drugs such as fentanyl, and released back to the streets before the ink is dry on the police report.

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Many will probably remember news stories in 2023 covering a young illegal immigrant from Venezuela bragging about how easy it was to get money from the U.S. government and squat in a vacant house with impunity. Michael Ruiz of Fox News reports that 26-year-old Leonel Moreno had an estimated 500,000 Tik Tok followers watching his videos mocking taxpayers and other illegals who worked for a living while he was prospering on government handouts. In one of those videos, Moreno bragged, “I didn’t cross the Rio Grande to work like a slave. I came to the U.S. to mark my territory.” Last Friday, the Trump administration announced that Moreno has been deported to his original territory in Venezuela.

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Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed into law a bill that allows the use of nitrogen gas to execute condemned murderers.  Andres DeMillo of the Associated Press reports that Arkansas joins Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma which have approved the use of the gas for executions. Death penalty opponents and most of the mainstream media are criticizing its use as unconstitutional, although it has been approved by multiple courts. Opponents have characterized its use as death by suffocation.

“The decision to use nitrogen suffocation as an execution method is a dangerous and regressive move that puts Arkansas out of step with national trends away from the death penalty,” Megan Bailey, a spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties of Arkansas, said in a statement.

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On March 18 the state of Louisiana executed rapist/murderer Jessie Hoffman. Anna Young of the New York Post reports that  Hoffman was executed by nitrogen gas. He was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1996 kidnapping, rape and execution-style murder of 28-year-old Molly Elliott. Hoffman’s lawyers argued that using nitrogen gas for executions is cruel and unusual punishment, violating the Eighth Amendment. They also claimed that using the gas interfered with his Buddhist meditative breathing before he died. Their last minute appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was rejected by a 5-4 vote with Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Neil Gorsuch dissenting. Alabama used the widely available colorless and odorless gas to put down four murderers without incident last year. Pilar Aries of Fox News reports that Arizona executed murderer Aaron Gunches by lethal injection Wednesday. Gunches was sentenced to death for the murder of his girlfriend’s ex-husband outside of Mesa Arizona in 2002. He refused legal efforts to stop his execution.

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On November 5, 2024, California voters overwhelmingly adopted Proposition 36, the Homelessness, Drug Addiction, and Theft Reduction Act, a modest reform to restore consequences for thieves and drug dealers and require treatment for addicts.  It’s adoption was a complete rebuke of Proposition 47, the so-called Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act adopted in 2014 with major funding from the ACLU and socialist billionaire George Soros. That measure decriminalized theft and drug crimes. It’s important to note that Proposition 47 was supported by then Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom and the Democrat supermajority in the state legislature. Ten years later, these same politicians opposed Proposition 36, although millions of democrats voted for it.

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