Patterico's Pontifications

6/16/2022

Report: District Attorney Policy May Result in Paying for Cop Killer’s Funeral

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 8:06 am



As always on this blog, I am passing along the news as a private citizen commenting on a matter of public interest, and not as a representative of my office. Here’s the background:

Two police officers — one a 22-year veteran and the other a rookie — were shot and killed in the Los Angeles County city of El Monte late Tuesday afternoon, authorities said. The suspect is also dead. The mayor said the officers were “essentially ambushed.”

The El Monte officers were identified Wednesday as Cpl. Michael Paredes and Officer Joseph Santana. Paredes, the longtime veteran of the department, is survived by his wife, daughter and son, police said. Santana, who previously worked as a public works employee and with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department before joining the police department in his hometown, is survived by his wife, daughter and twin sons.

“Corporal Paredes and Officer Santana paid the ultimate sacrifice, while in performance of a noble profession, serving the community they loved,” police said in a statement Wednesday.

The shooting occurred at about 4:45 p.m. local time when El Monte officers responded to a report of a stabbing at a motel. When they arrived, they “immediately took gunfire,” police said.

The two officers were rushed to a hospital where they later died, police said.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said the suspect was shot and died at the scene.

Here’s the difference in how you perceive this based upon your news sources.

Bill Melugin of Fox News reports:

People killed by police have generally used deadly force against police and/or others. This policy commits to paying for the funerals of a group of people who, in most cases, have tried to kill cops — and in this case succeeded. Take note, voters.

Meanwhile, the L.A. Times article on the cop killer’s background and treatment by the system mentions none of this.

UPDATE: Since I first published this post, Gascón has stated that the cop killer’s family does not qualify for the reimbursement of burial expenses. He does not explain how this conclusion is driven by the written policy. Meanwhile, the Times has now addressed the issue of the offer. My new post is here.

40 Responses to “Report: District Attorney Policy May Result in Paying for Cop Killer’s Funeral”

  1. George Gascon-the cop killers best friend.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 6/16/2022 @ 8:58 am

  2. Thank you for this information — and mentioning what our local monopoly newspaper did not.

    Jim Miller (406a93) — 6/16/2022 @ 9:12 am

  3. Seriously, how does Gascon justify his tax payer funded paycheck?

    Angelo (d1add9) — 6/16/2022 @ 10:19 am

  4. OMG. This is utter madness. If Gascon isn’t recalled there’s something seriously wrong with ‘folks’ who live in Los Angeles. No surprise about the LAT though, being aware of their history w/another notorious case involving a friend and colleague some years back.

    Back in February:

    Gascon recall: Nearly 98% of Los Angeles prosecutors voted in support of effort to oust DA

    https://www.foxnews.com/us/prosecutors-support-gascon-recall

    The exodus of good people from LA has to be on the rise.

    DCSCA (8aae60) — 6/16/2022 @ 10:37 am

  5. A linked Times story does talk about the gun charges and how he served only 20 days for them.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/16/2022 @ 11:48 am

  6. It must absolutely suck to be an ADA in Gascon’s office and have to answer questions like “How did you let this happen?!”

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/16/2022 @ 11:49 am

  7. I think that LA voters might react well to a “DA Gascon will not prosecute felons in possession of a handgun” commercial. I’m going to bet my house that women and children have been killed in similar sequences of events.

    Tagline: “He’s on the other side.”

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/16/2022 @ 11:53 am

  8. The exodus of good people from LA has to be on the rise.

    This isn’t even the among the top 5 reasons to leave.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/16/2022 @ 11:54 am

  9. @7. Except it is if you live there.

    DCSCA (ff5b8d) — 6/16/2022 @ 12:39 pm

  10. Traffic
    Homeless encampments
    High taxes
    No water
    Housing costs

    CRIME may rate high, but Gascon is only part of that.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/16/2022 @ 1:15 pm

  11. He may not like the 3-strikes law because he thinks it is too inflexible and goes too far, but it doesn’t have to be all or nothing.. And three strikes or no three strikes, why’d he make that deal? Because he had to either give him a very light sentence or an extremely heavy life ruining one?

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 6/16/2022 @ 2:22 pm

  12. Heck, I don’t like the speeding laws as they too are inflexible. I might be in a hurry. But I don’t overrule the legislature and neither does Gascon.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/16/2022 @ 3:01 pm

  13. @9. When did you live ibn Los Angeles, Kevin?

    DCSCA (ff5b8d) — 6/16/2022 @ 3:48 pm

  14. Wendy yoshimura was born in manzanar concentration camp. Fred hampton and mark clark were murdered by police. Children were burned to death at move hq. in philadelphia. Numerous unarmed black men shot and killed by police. Kent and jackson state shootings. A local police car stopped the 3 civil rights workers that were killed in mississippi. The LA times didn’t mention any of these either. When I was growing up in the 60’s liberal would say “WE” and conservatves would say to them you and me don’t make “WE” commie! Today conservatives say “WE” and democrats say you and me don’t make “WE” NAZI! What goes around comes around. The voters will decide if gascon has gone to far.

    asset (dbefd1) — 6/16/2022 @ 5:25 pm

  15. If he had been executed in San Quentin, the State would have buried him. If he had been indigent, LA County would have buried him no matter what he died of.

    Sure, it is stomach-churning that Gascon has a policy that everybody who is killed by the police is a victim. But in this particular case … how much is a funeral in LA County, anyway?

    nk (27d8ce) — 6/16/2022 @ 5:40 pm

  16. @14. Any piece of California real estate is pricey enough as is.

    Cremate the crooks.

    DCSCA (ff5b8d) — 6/16/2022 @ 5:43 pm

  17. 11…I’ve run up 4 “6mph over limit near a public park” tickets courtesy of Groot when visiting the mom in Chicago proper in a year. Utter BS which makes me think the City wants to maintain a vibe of carjacking danger just so people speed and roll through red lights and stop signs.

    urbanleftbehind (8ec8c5) — 6/16/2022 @ 5:44 pm

  18. @16. Is Chicago cash starved? Chamber of Commerce classic Ferris Bueller never gets ticketed on his day off. 😉

    DCSCA (ff5b8d) — 6/16/2022 @ 6:04 pm

  19. Sure, it is stomach-churning that Gascon has a policy that everybody who is killed by the police is a victim. But in this particular case … how much is a funeral in LA County, anyway?

    It’s not the price of an indigent funeral — as you point out that would happen if he died on Skid Row. It’s the price of a funeral “in dignity” so that his loved ones can remember his life and good deeds.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/16/2022 @ 6:38 pm

  20. When did you live in Los Angeles, Kevin?

    In the city proper? 1990-2018, and LA County from 1972. In So Cal? Birth to 2018.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/16/2022 @ 6:40 pm

  21. i cannot imagine the pain those families are feeling.
    Hard to out vote Soros and his influence around the states.

    mg (8cbc69) — 6/16/2022 @ 6:42 pm

  22. @19. Then you should know better.

    DCSCA (ff5b8d) — 6/16/2022 @ 6:56 pm

  23. @20. The holes left for victims and their families are never filled– the damage is deep on so many levels– no matter how many times Joey declares one day, you’ll laugh again.

    DCSCA (ff5b8d) — 6/16/2022 @ 6:58 pm

  24. Better late than never: L.A. D.A. Gascón’s policies may have led to reduced prison time for man who killed El Monte cops (L.A. Times)

    The man who shot and killed two El Monte police officers Tuesday could have faced significantly more years in prison when he was last charged with a crime. But one of Dist. Atty. George Gascón’s most heavily criticized policies may have led to a significantly lower sentence, according to documents reviewed by The Times.

    Justin Flores, 35, was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and methamphetamine when he was arrested by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies in 2020.

    Flores had been convicted of burglary in 2011. A prior conviction on certain felonies is considered a strike. Strikes make suspects charged with later crimes eligible for harsher sentences. Flores’ earlier conviction means he had one strike against him when he was charged in 2020.

    But the prosecutor assigned to the case, Deputy Dist. Atty. Larry Holcomb, said he had to revoke the strike allegation after Gascón took office. That’s because Gascon had issued a “special directive” that barred prosecutors from filing strike allegations, according to a disposition report reviewed by The Times.

    Gascón’s policy regarding strikes was later deemed illegal by a Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge, after a lawsuit filed by the union representing rank-and-file prosecutors. In February 2021, Judge James Chalfant ruled Gascón’s policy violated California’s “three strikes” law, which requires prosecutors to file strike allegations whenever a defendant has a previous serious or violent felony conviction.

    An appellate judge upheld Chalfant’s ruling earlier this year.

    Gascon seems to be panicking:

    Dmitry Gorin, a former deputy district attorney and defense lawyer, said “the dismissal of a prior strike offense by the D.A.’s office against a gang member with a criminal record charged with drug sales, and possession of loaded gun, is unusual. The typical pre-Gascón offer would be in the range of 32 months in state prison.”

    Two law enforcement sources also told The Times that the disposition report, which confirmed that prosecutors revoked the strike against Flores, was placed on “lockdown” Wednesday. Anyone who wanted to review the document had to seek the permission of high-ranking district attorney’s office staff, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/16/2022 @ 7:21 pm

  25. It must be tough to be the boss of a large organization where you are despised by nearly everyone. But I guess he knows his mission is important enough to suffer their ignorant thoughts.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/16/2022 @ 7:22 pm

  26. hey LA county

    good luck with all that

    recalls aren’t the answer, when you have the option to just leave

    when gascon is gone, another moron will just take his place

    cuz most sane people have already left the county

    JF (c8dab8) — 6/16/2022 @ 8:15 pm

  27. The only good news is that the recall process should cut off this foolish and costly social experiment. If there is one thing both sides of the gun debate agree on, it’s that violent criminals must lose their access to guns. Period. Here, a slap on the wrist led to two cops unnecessarily dying. Tragic and unforgivable.

    Adding on having the county absorb the funeral expense is just morbid. It’s one thing if no one wants to claim the body or if there is any question about the legality of the shoot, but to default to a position that the county is morally culpable is obscene and a slap in the face to the family of the police victims. I wish I could move to LA just so I could vote this creep out….but it may just be my least favorite city in the country. It’s almost like they need to start over….

    AJ_Liberty (411e90) — 6/17/2022 @ 3:53 am

  28. Angeless City

    mg (a287fa) — 6/17/2022 @ 3:58 am

  29. A penal system on the Swedish model. Just saying it is asking for trouble.

    nk (b7818e) — 6/17/2022 @ 5:09 am

  30. The problem is that in much of the industrialized western world, some places worst than oterts, we lack enough antibodies to crime. Crimes should be regarded as the exception, but when it starts there needs to be an immune system to bring it back down. Although people have free will, it’s not really atomized.

    And when it breaks out it is not going to break out equally everywhere.

    Now about this:

    https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2021-07-27/study-confirms-school-to-prison-pipeline

    Children who attend schools with high suspension rates are significantly more likely to be arrested and jailed as adults – especially Black and Hispanic boys – according to new research that shines a spotlight on the school-to-prison pipeline.

    Data have long shown that Black and Hispanic students experience suspension and expulsion at much higher rates than white students, and that as adults, they’re also disproportionately represented in the county’s prison system.

    A typical example of statistical nonsense, It is as wrong as Trump”s statistical roof that the election was stolen from him

    There is a school to jail pipeline, but it happens because there are not enough school suspensions. Avoiding that only makes the problem worse and more true. (but even when avoided, it is not completely avoided as compared to schools with no problems so that specious statistical correlation.

    https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-discipline-teaching-20220617-3wqgzuhrdzfyjfoyl2k5k2pnu4-story.html

    Sammy Finkelman (b434ee) — 6/17/2022 @ 7:06 am

  31. @26: I❤LA

    For me it was like watching something I loved being tortured to death. The people who have been running L.A. and its institutions for the past 20 years ought to be taken out and shot. Starting with the Chandlers. It was a great city once.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/17/2022 @ 7:09 am

  32. Kevin, I think your previous list says it all: stratospheric housing costs, infernal traffic, punitive taxes, unresolved water crises, in-your-face homelessness, then add in liberal insanity and everything eventually sliding into the ocean. San Diego just seems to have it beat.

    AJ_Liberty (ec7f74) — 6/17/2022 @ 8:06 am

  33. @31. stratospheric housing costs, infernal traffic, punitive taxes, unresolved water crises, in-your-face homelessness, then add in liberal insanity and everything eventually sliding into the ocean. San Diego just seems to have it beat.

    Pfft. Folks who wish upon a star live in Sleeping Beauty’s Castle–in Anaheim.

    DCSCA (bd8dce) — 6/17/2022 @ 9:37 am

  34. Report: District Attorney Policy May Result in Paying for Cop Killer’s Funeral

    I like the part about the DA’s office “paying” for cop killer’s funeral. I imagine that our host and his colleagues are going to have to spend weekends holding carwashes and bake sales to raise the funds.

    Or maybe they’ll just use taxpayer money, and then go hat in hand to the County Board of Supervisors and ask for a larger operating budget. This is all just more fodder for why it is imperative to recall the Los Angeles County District Attorney.

    JVW (6813b6) — 6/17/2022 @ 10:17 am

  35. That castle in “-land” compared to the Magic Kingdom castle in perhaps-not-Florida is an apt comparison for what x $ can buy in those respective states.

    urbanleftbehind (a9060b) — 6/17/2022 @ 10:26 am

  36. Or maybe they’ll just use taxpayer money

    I think that Gascon should stick by his principles and pay for it himself, out of his own pocket.

    Kevin M (eeb9e9) — 6/17/2022 @ 9:07 pm

  37. I’ve done work for Chandler heirs. Very nice people who paid their bills on receipt. Bought my men lunch, provided cold Cokes every day.
    The only other client to do that was the former CEO of Coca Cola Bottling who had everything for free with one condition. No Pepsi, Taco Bell allowed on the property. If you wanted that, you could go outside to eat and drink in the truck.
    The worst were heirs to a fortune I cannot name and they made us raise our hands like First Grade to be escorted to the porta potty

    steveg (87f594) — 6/17/2022 @ 10:23 pm

  38. “A penal system on the Swedish model. Just saying it is asking for trouble.”
    How far back are we willing to go on that model?
    Eric the Red had a “Kill on Sight” without repercussion put on his head.

    steveg (87f594) — 6/17/2022 @ 10:27 pm

  39. #33 Don’t put ideas into Gascons head. Plus, Patrick’s under duress cookie contributions would probably be at least a bit bland and half? hearted

    steveg (87f594) — 6/18/2022 @ 12:26 am

  40. UPDATE: Since I first published this post, Gascón has stated that the cop killer’s family does not qualify for the reimbursement of burial expenses. He does not explain how this conclusion is driven by the written policy. Meanwhile, the Times has now addressed the issue of the offer. My new post is here.

    Patterico (d6d977) — 6/18/2022 @ 12:34 pm


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