A team of attorneys from Ellis George achieved a significant victory for the Association of Deputy District Attorneys for Los Angeles County in an action challenging several of Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón’s newly-implemented prosecutorial directives.
On February 2, 2021, our team argued to the Honorable James C. Chalfant that those directives unlawfully conflicted with California law governing sentencing enhancements. Specifically, the team contended that DA Gascon’s policies violated clear statutory mandates and constituted an abdication of a district attorney’s duty to exercise case-by-case prosecutorial discretion in particular cases.
On February 8, 2021, Judge Chalfant found that DA Gascón’s directives violated California law, compelled deputy district attorneys to violate their ethical obligations and oaths of office, and ignored the constitutionally-protected rights of victims of crimes. The Court issued a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of the offending directives. As a result, for the duration of the lawsuit, DA Gascón is enjoined from enforcing several directives that purported to prohibit prosecutors from charging prior strikes under California’s Three Strikes Law, or that purported to require prosecutors to dismiss certain sentencing enhancements in all cases without any exercise of case-by-case discretion. These enhancements, the Court reasoned, had been passed by statewide legislation and voter initiative to protect both victims and the public, and could not be abandoned or dismissed wholesale in the manner that DA Gascón attempted to do.
The Ellis George team, led by David Carroll and Matthew Kussman, included Eric George, Thomas O’Brien, Nathan Hochman.
