LA DA Fails to Boot Victim’s Advocate Out of Court

Our system of criminal justice is an adversary one, normally pitting the prosecutor against the defense lawyer. In Los Angeles today, however, the office of District Attorney George Gascón is often agreeing with the defendant.

While there are only two parties to a criminal case, victims of crime in California have a right to be heard under Article I § 28 of the state Constitution, as amended in the original Marsy’s Law, Proposition 9 of 2008. Retired Deputy District Attorney Kathleen Cady has been doing great work in LA toward ensuring that victims’ voices are heard. This raises the ire of Mr. Gascón, interfering with his cozy, collusive motions.

The Metropolitan News-Enterprise has this story on the case of Jesse Gonzales. Gonzales murdered Deputy Sheriff Jack Williams in 1979 and attempted to murder Deputy Bobby Esquivel. Gonzales’s lawyer sought to overturn this long-final judgment on habeas corpus by alleging nondisclosure of some evidence. In this case, as often happens, the defense to the petition is that the evidence is not material. That is, the prosecution is not required to turn over every speck of evidence to the defense, only evidence that has a reasonable probability of changing the outcome in the defendant’s favor. With no advocacy for that position from the usual source, it falls to victims of crime (including the families of deceased victims) to make the case.

The DA’s office tried to disqualify Ms. Cady on the ground that many years ago as a law clerk she worked on a project reviewing the use of jailhouse informants in 130 cases, one of which was Gonzales’s. The judge held this was an insufficient showing for disqualification. Ms. Cady may continue to represent Deputy Esquivel and the daughters of Deputy Williams as amici curiae (friends of the court).