Criminals in LA County Ask For More Plea Deals Due to Likely Recall Election of DA George Gascon

Amid the increasing likelihood that Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon will face a recall vote this November, as well as the successful recall of San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin on Tuesday, a growing number of LA County criminals are making plea deals over worries that Gascon’s progressive criminal justice policies will go away due to the impending recall.

As of the end of May, over 500,000 of the needed 566,857 signatures have been collected. While groups for the recall have said that close to 800,000 are needed by the July 6th deadline in case of any duplicate or invalid votes, there will likely be enough for a recall collected in the last month of signature gathering. With signatures expected to continue to come in due to backlash against Gascon’s “reforms,” such as ending policies that had juveniles being tried as adults, many crimes reduced to misdemeanors or having jail time reduced, and the removal of cash bail for most crimes despite California voting to keep it in 2020 in Prop 25, as well as continued high crime rates and now successful recalls of similar DAs, the number of criminals wanting plea deals has continued to climb while the law remains more favorable to them.

“I told you last time that my defense attorney wanna hurry up and try to get something did before they re-elect somebody else besides Gascon and bring back that bull—- life without parole and death penalty,” Wilkerson said on May 31st. “If he could get manslaughter, then —-! Manslaughter only carries 6, 9, and 12 years.”

Pleas in LA County increase

Wilkerson, as well as others charged with murder, have been receiving no special enhancements, such as the crime involving a gun or being gang related, that would otherwise bring life without parole.

“Basically, if you commit murder, rape, assault, battery, or any other vile crime, and your lawyers plays your cards right, you can walk out of court with a lesser charge, reduced sentence, or other lighter punishment,” a LA lawyer said who wished to remain anonymous on Wednesday. “For lesser crimes, it can be almost a revolving door. Now imagine you are a criminal. If you know that a lesser sentence will only be available until November, and you only have a limited time before your case goes to trial or you can work out a deal, wouldn’t you want that before the gravy train ends?”

“That’s what has been happening. They see the news of the recall likely happening, and you better believe they just saw what happened in San Francisco. They need to cut deals now.”