San Diego may be a neighbor to Los Angeles, but that’s where the similarities end between their two district attorneys, Summer Stephan and George Gascon.
Both are in their first elected terms, with the constitutionalist Stephan of San Diego constantly finding herself dragged into the liberal policies of Gascon, who seeks reduced prison terms for offenders.
“I can no longer trust that this DA’s policies will abide by the law,” Stephan said in January when seeking to undo a deal allowing Gascon to prosecute a case with joint jurisdiction. “I need to return my cases to San Diego.”
LA DISTRICT ATTORNEY GASCON FUNDRAISES TO LOWER SENTENCE OF JACQUELINE AVANT’S KILLER
Calling his behavior unconstitutional and lacking truth and integrity, Stephan stands in stark contrast to the wave of liberal prosecutors in California funded by George Soros, which includes Gascon, Chesa Boudin of San Francisco, and Diana Becton of Contra Costa County. This week, Stephan charged a group of antifa protesters with assault and weapons charges along with conspiracy — possibly the first such case in the nation.
“She seems to be very concerned about the rule of law and takes her job seriously,” said Bill Wells, mayor of the San Diego-area city of El Cajon. “I always liked her but didn’t appreciate her until I started seeing overt insanity in places like Chicago, LA, Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco. There was a Soros-backed prosecutor who ran against her in the last election who would’ve been the same as Gascon if Summer had lost.”
Gascon has only been in office for a year, but it’s been a rocky one for Stephan who has prosecuted more than 100 cases, including homicides and sex trafficking.
The year started off with a court battle to reclaim a robbery case that began in San Diego and ended with two murders in LA. Because California is such a large state, crimes can cross county lines and usually the jurisdiction, with the most severe event bringing the case to trial. That was the situation in the 2019 crime spree allegedly committed by 31-year-old Rhett Nelson.
Gascon’s predecessor, Jackie Lacey, was scheduled to prosecute the murders and robberies that occurred during the spree. But after Gascon swept into office, Stephan discovered his policy of not charging stiff gun violations and other enhancements that lock up criminals for life.
Because one of the murder victims was a sheriff’s deputy, state law allowed for prosecutors to seek the death penalty. Instead, Gascon brought a case that would have Nelson eligible for parole after 20 years.
DA Summer Stephan.jpgGascon responded to a court motion by Stephan claiming that Nelson would get 70 years in prison and would be unlikely to be released on parole. A judge sided with Stephan.
Next, Stephan slammed his policy of refusing to attend parole hearings as a victim advocate to keep offenders in prison. She blamed this stance on the favorable outcome of Sirhan Sirhan’s hearing Aug. 28. Sirhan was imprisoned in San Diego County, and Stephan was deluged with requests from constituents to attend the hearing, but it wasn’t her case.
In the end, no prosecutor was there to represent most of Robert F. Kennedy’s children, who wanted Sirhan to stay in prison.
“We have a constitution and a process where the DA is supposed to represent the interests of the people. That was missing from this case,” she told KUSI. “What really upset me is that being the DA means having truth and integrity. And what they announced is that they weren’t going to show up because the DA has no role past the initial sentencing, and that is simply false.”
While her first two run-ins dealt with justice, the third issue, Proposition 57, which was supported by Gascon, directly affected the safety of Stephan’s community. The proposition downgraded the prison sentences of tens of thousands of inmates, including convicted murderers.
He then successfully pushed for downsizing the jail population due to COVID-19, something that has been mirrored at the state prison level by Gov. Gavin Newsom, one of Gascon’s biggest supporters. In May 2020, while California was under a state of emergency, Newsom ordered Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials to “pursue changes to good conduct credits.”
Stephan has sued the state to stop the early release of some 76,000 felons, including convicted murderers, rapists, and child molesters, in a case that includes 44 other district attorneys.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“I know for victims, they write the date down — the date when they anticipate the release [of their offender] and take a breath in between where they feel some sense of safety, and now all of a sudden the date just changes,” Stephan told KUSI. “They get no input, there is no input for them. … Every single law we’re fighting has no consideration for victims — it’s all about the rights of criminals.”
Stephan declined to be interviewed for this story.
