DA rejecting most drug cases, city says

DOWNEY – More than 90% of narcotics involved cases taken to the District Attorney’s Office this year have been rejected, according to a report made at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.

At its meeting this week, the City Council was given insight as to how the city has fared under the controversial directives of Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon, who was elected last year.

According to the report – which was presented by Police Captain Leslie Murray - Downey has seen the most impact when it comes to misdemeanor cases.

Under Special Directive 20-07, district attorneys have been directed not to prosecute several misdemeanor charges, touching on varying topics including driver’s license violations, drug and paraphernalia possession, minors in possession of alcohol, public intoxication, trespass, disturbing the peace, loitering, resisting arrest, and criminal threats.

In total, this has led to the rejection of 463, or 40.5%, of the 1143 cases that Downey has submitted to the DA’s office.

Notably, only eight narcotics offenses out of 86 have been filed this year, reflecting a staggering change from the year prior. In 2020, 157 out of 177 narcotics cases were filed.

In addition, none of the city’s 35 drunk in public cases this year have been filed. Disorderly conduct offenses – which include criminal threats and resisting a police officer – are more comparable to a coin flip, as 11 out of 22 those cases have been rejected this year.

Cases having to do with traffic violations are also at about a 50% rejection rate.

Murray would later state that she felt there was a direct correlation with the implementation of Gascon’s directives and the increase in rejected cases.

However, Gascon’s directives have not had an impact on officers’ ability to “go out and enforce the laws,” with a similar number of year-to-date adult and juvenile arrests having occurred between 2020 and 2021.

“We’re looking at essentially the same, or close to the same number of arrests prior to the directives, and post directives,” said Murray. “…[Officers] are still going out and addressing criminal activity, and making arrests as appropriate.”

Murray’s report comes after residents have put council members under increased pressure to follow several cities in casting a vote of no confidence in Gascon.

So far, officials have neglected to make any such move out of respect for Councilman Mario Trujillo, who works directly with Gascon.

His final day with the DA’s Office is set for Sept. 10.