Los Angeles’s newly elected, George Soros-funded district attorney is set to enact sentencing requirements that will take the sentence of life without parole off the table for a man suspected in the execution-style murder of a police officer.
District Attorney George Gascon will ask a judge to dismiss all enhancements and special circumstances for multiple murders, including the murder of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Gilbert Solano last year, which could prevent the suspected killer from spending life in prison, according to Fox 11 News Los Angeles.
Police say Rhett Nelson shot deputy Solano in the head while he was waiting in line while off duty at Jack in the Box in Alhambra last June. He died in hospital. One hour before that, detectives say Nelson shot and killed 31-year-old Russian snowboarder Dimitry Koltsov. @FOXLA
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) December 15, 2020
Police say a Utah man named Rhett Nelson shot Solano in the head while he sat in his car in line at a fast food-drive-thru last year. Nelson, who allegedly murdered another person an hour earlier, was arrested and charged with two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder, and multiple robbery counts.
If a judge approves Gascon’s request, Nelson will be eligible to be released from prison at some point.
“The defendant is facing a sentence of 40 years to life in prison, but there is no sentence that can undo the harm caused in this case,” a spokesperson from Gascon’s office told Fox 11. “If convicted, there is a possibility that decades from now, the parole board could determine he’s been rehabilitated. Such a determination, many years from now, would ultimately be a reflection of a system and the public alike weighing their continued interest in incarcerating a man who no longer poses a threat to society at an extraordinary taxpayer cost. Eliminating that remote possibility today may not be in the public’s interest decades from now.”
“He’s like the devil. I don’t understand it,” Solano’s sister, Christina, said of Gascon’s decision.
“He should be there for the families. We are the victims here. My brother is a victim, not this person that shot him! It’s disgusting, and he’s disgusting,” she added.
Gascon’s office responded to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner by citing studies that suggest “eliminating excessive sentences enhances safety” and pointed out that the status quo in the city has resulted in violent crime rising 30% over the last eight years.
Gascon, who is one of the many district attorneys candidates funded by liberal billionaire George Soros across the country, has announced plans to issue sweeping changes to the criminal justice system in the nation’s second-largest city, including ending cash bail, ending the death penalty, ending California’s three-strikes law, reexamining police shooting cases, and resentencing tens of thousands of people.
Gascon’s office is also planning to decline prosecuting certain misdemeanor charges, including prostitution, resisting arrest, drug possession, loitering, and disturbing the peace.
