LA DA Gascon, supported by Soros, sued by families of murdered cops.

DA George Gascon’s Policies Result in Tragic Consequences

Two Police Officers Killed Due to Plea Deal

The families of two El Monte police officers, Michael Paredes and Joseph Santana, who were killed last June by a gang member, Justin Flores, are alleging that District Attorney George Gascon’s failure to follow the law led to their deaths. Flores was on the street due to a plea deal made by Gascon’s office, despite being a documented member of the Quiet Village gang with multiple prior convictions. Santana’s family alleges that Flores should have been incarcerated on the day he killed the officers, but he was put in their path because of a combination of poor supervision by the Probation Department and a plea deal that was struck in 2021 as part of Gascón’s broad sentencing reforms.

Gascon’s Policies Prevented Enhanced Sentencing

At the time of the shootings, Flores was on probation as part of a plea deal struck in 2021 after he’d been arrested on suspicion of possession of a firearm and methamphetamine. With a prior burglary conviction, Flores could have faced several years in prison under California’s “three strikes” law. However, the prosecutor assigned to the case said he couldn’t seek the enhanced sentence because of one of many sweeping policy changes Gascón made on his first day in office. An LA judge ruled in February 2021 that Gascon was required to follow the three-strikes law. Gascon appealed that decision, and it’s now going before the California Supreme Court.

Gascon’s Policies Allow Criminals to Go Free

Another story in the news today reads like a variation on the theme of Gascon going easy on criminals until someone is dead. Last month, a 40-year-old father of two named Dennis Banner was allegedly stabbed to death by 23-year-old Jade Simone Brookfield. At the time, Brookfield was in a mental health diversion program after a previous incident in which she stabbed a woman in the chest. But it’s actually worse than that because Gascon’s office had several other opportunities to realize its mistake, all of which it missed.

Brookfield’s first encounter with Los Angeles police happened in the early spring of 2020, during Gascón’s first year in office. Brookfield was arrested for attempted murder after she stabbed a woman in the chest with a knife, puncturing her lung. Prosecution of the crime was delayed into 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. By then, the court reduced Brookfield’s charges to assault with a deadly weapon — still a felony charge that counts as one “strike” under California’s Three Strikes law — and prosecutors agreed to a deal where Brookfield was given mental health diversion instead of jail time.

A source said that Brookfield absconded and was initially terminated from the diversion program. However, she was permitted to re-enlist in diversion and was given another chance. In September 2021, Brookfield was arrested for battery of a peace officer. She was again given a mental health diversion, and Gascon’s office dismissed the case. In December, she was arrested again, this time for pulling out a knife and threatening to kill a man. Gascon’s office rejected that case for lack of evidence. In March of this year, she was arrested once more for swinging a knife at a bus driver who missed her stop. Rather than revoke her participation in the diversion program, Gascon’s office gave her an ankle monitor and released her again. Her next arrest was for the murder of Mr. Banner. Finally, Gascon’s office did what it should have done in the first place and put Brookfield in jail.