A ‘Gascon Special’

When does a 75 years to life prison term not really mean 75 years to life?

When Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon is involved.

In 2018, peripatetically homeless woman Nancy Jackson eradicated a family in Leimert Park – in April she made a plea deal with Gascon’s office that includes the very real possibility of her serving only 20 years for the cold blooded murder of three innocent people.

Jackson, now 61, over time before the murders had insinuated her way into the life of Phillip White (usually called Paul), a 65-year-old retired probation officer and former high school and college standout track and football star. White suffered from MS, a fact Jackson took advantage of. She was living in her car, family members say, when she asked White – they had been acquaintances for some time – if she could store some boxes in his garage.

A short time later, Jackson was not only living in the house but had actually taken the master bedroom.

White and his parents, William and Orsie Carter, realized they had to do something about Jackson and all three set up a meeting with her at the house to ask her to leave.

She shot all three dead in the living room and then dragged their bodies into a bathroom where they were discovered the next day by another family member.

Jackson was charged with three counts of murder and in late April of this year she accepted a plea deal of 75 years to life for all three crimes. She was officially sentenced in late May.

Sounds pretty tough, doesn’t it? But the key fact – what has the family so upset – is that with the state’s elder parole laws, Jackson can apply for parole and possibly get out of jail in 20 years and that’s a lot less than 75.

In fact, any prisoner over 50 years old can apply for elder parole once they have served a certain amount of time – typically 20 years – of their sentence.

“Why not LWOP (life without the possibility of parole)?” asked Gilbert Wright, Philip’s brother-in-law and, ironically, a Gascon employee – he’s the deputy district attorney in charge of the mental health division of the office – asked. “Offering this deal means you want them to get in 20 years.”

And Gascon had made no secret that he thinks prison terms are typically too long; his office has a program to look at reevaluating the sentences of almost anyone currently in prison on a sentence of more than 15 years.

Wright said Gascon was “playing politics” with the deal, knowing that, at first blush, it may sound appropriate and hoping that no one would notice the huge discrepancy.

Kathleen Cady, a former deputy district attorney and now pro bono victim’s advocate, said the deal could “play well in the media” because of its near bait-and-switch nature.

When they were told of the deal, Cady said the family  “had to beg” the office to reconsider, but in the end they declined to do so.

As a deputy DA, Wright had been “walled off” from the case entirely to prevent even the hint of a conflict. But once he heard of the plea he got involved.

There was “no problem with the proof” in the case, meaning it would have been a slam dunk to get LWOP at a trial, Wright said.

“She shouldn’t be eligible for parole at all,” Wright said.  “She intentionally executed three people in cold blood.”

Gascon’s office did not reply to a request for comment.

Terry Carter was Phillip’s brother and the only other son of William and Orsie.  He was devastated by the murders and then re-traumatized by the plea deal.

“I patiently waited for six years for justice and closure,” Carter said. “I was waiting to have my day in court and it was snatched away from me.”

Carter said Jackson has never shown remorse and reportedly smiled broadly when the plea was accepted by an LA judge.

Carter puts the blame for the light sentence squarely on Gascon’s shoulders.

“I’m not happy about Gascon,” Carter said.  “It’s time to play hard ball with the criminals but now Los Angeles is a criminal’s paradise.  That’s the consequence of playing softball.”

The story of Phillip White is one of nearly two dozen now featured on the website “Gascon Must Go.”   The site is part of the campaign of Nathan Hochman, who faces-off against Gascon for the district attorney’s job in November.