At the end of January, there is a hearing in civil court. There has been an injunction filed against the new District Attorney related to many of his policies, such as the three strikes law being basically abolished in Los Angeles county, all enhancements being struck, and a variety of other issues related to his policies.
A Superior Court Judge will decide whether or not these policies are, in fact, lawful or not.
This argument is joined, obviously, by many people in his office. A lot of the current District Attorneys do not like the policies and are trying to stall the policies while they wait and see what happens, and are fighting against the policies in various ways.
So, the current District Attorney has his work cut out for him if he is going to save some of these policies.
Challenged By Judges and Prosecutors
Another thing that I've seen is that he has pulled back on some of the policies, in the sense that he is not having his office implement them. Of course, this is on the down low, so his constituents aren't angry.
He's really put himself in a bad position here by promising all of these things, and now he's being attacked by his own deputies, judges who are not following the policies.
I've even heard that many of the surrounding counties are joining this movement because all of the criminals from their perspective are now going to go into Los Angeles county. So, I really don't understand the logic behind their problem with the new policies.
The bottom line is, it will be very interesting whether these new policies hold up from a criminal defense standpoint.
Having practiced in the Los Angeles area now for the past almost 30 years, it certainly is a change that will shift the pendulum if it can hold up to the other side.
Diversion Programs Rather than Prison Time
When I say the other side, it now will look at trying to help some of these people who are looking at many years in prison versus trying to put them in prison for a long time.
There's mental health, I think that is going to be utilized as an alternative for those individuals who have mental issues, and there's various other programs and policies that are being championed by the new District Attorney.
I think his policies will hold up to a large degree, because I do think he has the power to implement the policies he wants, as an elected official.
He was voted into office and he is the District Attorney. He makes the decisions on how his office will prosecute criminal cases in Los Angeles.
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