Too Bad There Isn’t a ‘Three Strikes’ Law for DAs: Gascon Goes 0 for 2

A Los Angeles civil jury Monday found that District Attorney George Gascon improperly retaliated against one of his deputies and awarded her $1.5 million in compensatory damages.

Shawn Randolph, formerly the DA’s office lead juvenile prosecutor, was shifted from that position to a spot in the parole department after she pointed out that many of Gascon’s policy directives regarding juveniles – for example, charging defendants with lesser crimes so as not to give them a “strike” if convicted – were improper, unethical, and/or illegal.

While it is unclear if he said it in direct reference to Randolph, during the trial Gascon admitted calling employees who have opposed his reign of error “internal terrorists.”

“It should be stressed that these are not just employment lawsuits, but are whistleblower actions as well,” retired veteran prosecutor and former president of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys Marc Debbaudt said.  “The deputies are trying to stop Gascon from breaking the law.”

This is the second lawsuit Gascon has come up on the short side – a similar lawsuit filed by prosecutor Richard Doyle was settled – prosecutor Richard Doyle was previously awarded $800,000 dollars after he was shunted aside for refusing Gascon’s politically-motivated order to drop charges against a trio of defendants who attempted to derail a train (seriously) during an anti-police protest.

Gascon has now lost two retaliation lawsuits, already costing the county $2.3 million plus his outside legal counsel fees. This does not bode well for either Gascon or the Los Angeles taxpayer as the district attorney face 16 more similar lawsuits plus another 11 separate civil service actions. If the trend continues, Gascon’s four years in office will cost at least an extra $1 million a month in settlement losses and legal costs.

“We are disappointed by the jury’s verdict, and stand by our decision to reassign this and other attorneys to new positions within the office,” said Gascon in response to the judgment. “As any manager will tell you, moving around personnel in order to improve the level of representation this community receives is absolutely critical to a functioning office. We will consider our options over the next several days.“

The DA’s office did not elaborate on what those options could possibly be.

“The office is demoralized, which is to Gascon’s advantage if his intent is to dismantle the justice system,” said Debbaudt, referring to a previous statement of Gascon’s that “(W)e have to turn our court system upside down.”

“But they have no idea what to replace it with,” Debbaudt added.  “Maybe they are just trying to tear it down and waiting to see what will take its place organically.”

Beyond the employee lawsuits, Gascon also faces ethical violation allegations, including his recent improper public divulging of an alleged confession by the suspect in the murder of Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell.

Gascon was first elected in 2020, defeating District Attorney Jackie Lacey with the help of millions of dollars from international progressive plutocrat George Soros, who has also funded numerous “progressive” district attorney’s around the country. Soros is also a funder of “Fair and Just Prosecution” – – a leftist organization that fights against cash bail and hopes to “move beyond incarceration-driven approaches” to law enforcement.

Gascon – who has never personally prosecuted a case and attended an at-the-time for-profit, unaccredited by the American Bar Association law school that currently ranks in the bottom 25% of all law schools in the nation (though it does get high marks for its “diversity” efforts) – is an FJP board member.