When George Gascón resigns as district attorney next month, he will leave behind not only a legacy of unpopular criminal justice reforms but also a series of lawsuits filed by his office’s top prosecutors that could cost Los Angeles County millions of dollars.

Two dozen deputy prosecutors are filing civil lawsuits alleging they faced retaliation when they challenged the progressive Gascón and his lofty reformist policies. One lawsuit has already been settled for $800,000 and another led to a $1.5 million jury verdict.

Resolving the lawsuits will be a priority for District Attorney-elect Nathan Hochman, a 60-year-old former federal prosecutor who he handily defeated Gascón in Tuesday’s election.

“I will work as quickly as possible to address the lawsuits and help turn the page on the failed social experiment Gascón has wrought on the residents of Los Angeles County,” said Hochman, who ran on a tough-on-crime platform that gives prosecutors authority to make legal decisions on a case-by-case basis. “It doesn’t lend itself to an easy solution, but it is a solvable problem that will take a lot of work.”

Proud of achievements

At the center of the demands were Gascón’s political directives, established shortly after took office in 2020prohibiting prosecutors from charging juveniles as adults, presenting sentencing enhancements, attending parole hearings, requiring cash bail for non-violent crimes, and seeking the death penalty.

Gascón has backtracked or made exceptions for some of his most controversial directives, which he insisted were necessary to reform a broken criminal justice system.

Gascón, 70, said he is deeply proud of his administration’s accomplishments and grateful to the communities that are the “heart of criminal justice reform.”

“The shift to the right that occurred last night in the United States is heartbreaking,” said Gascón, who defended himself two failed withdrawal attempts, he said in a statement a day after voters rejected his re-election bid. “Democrats have a long road ahead of us, but the work is more vital than ever and our commitment will not waver.”

Praised and reviled

Gascón’s legacy as a progressive reformer will continue long after he leaves office, said Cristine Soto DeBerry, executive director of Prosecutors Alliance Action, a nonprofit that advocates for tax changes and policy solutions.

“For more than 40 years, Attorney General Gascón has dedicated his life to public service and worked to keep our communities safe,” DeBerry said. “As time goes on, more and more people will adopt the common-sense approaches he championed, from investing in youth rehabilitation, to resentencing people who deserve a second chance, to holding police accountable for ending crime. death penalty and prioritize diversion programs that address the root causes of crime.”

However, Hochman described Gascón as a poor administrator whose office has not reviewed 10,000 cases from law enforcement agencies to determine whether charges should be filed. Before Gascón’s tenure, he said, there were never more than 100 unfiled cases.

Michele Hanisee, president of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys, said experienced prosecutors have long warned Gascón that his policies would create a logjam in filing cases.

“He thought he knew better. “He was wrong,” Hanisee said. “But even as the backlog grew, he doubled down. It was only during the last 30 days before the election that he began secretly offering valuable overtime to a small group of carefully selected prosecutors to help him cover his tracks.”

Hochman noted that the Prosecutor’s Office has about 25% fewer prosecutors than when Gascón took office in December 2020, due in part to poor management. He said that on his first day in office, he would rescind all of Gascón’s general pro-crime policies that have “descarceration” as its main objective.

Gascón, who was elected amid national furor and unrest following the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota, created a stir almost immediately after being sworn in by issuing a series of controversial directives, including eliminating some improvements that could add time to a defendant’s sentence for accusations such as weapons use or gang affiliation.

Within days, the ADDA, which represents about 800 rank-and-file prosecutors in Los Angeles County, filed a lawsuit arguing that Gascón’s directives were illegal and violated the prosecutor’s discretion.

In February 2021, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Chalfant issued a mandateruling that Gascón’s ban on three-strike enhancements was illegal and violates prosecutors’ rights. California’s Second District Court of Appeal upheld the injunction, and the District Attorney’s Office subsequently filed a pending appeal with the California Supreme Court.

Prosecutors rebel

The 24 lawsuits against Gascón and the county allege that not only were prosecutors retaliated against for challenging Gascón, but many were demoted or denied promotions.

The latest lawsuit, filed last month by Deputy District Attorney Tatiana Chahoian, alleges that Gascón attempted to “send a message” by sending armed investigators to her home, where she worked remotely while caring for her young children, with a notice accusing her of violations of policies. for a February interview with Fox 11 Los Angeles.

Chahoian had expressed concern about a memo he received encouraging prosecutors to downplay cases involving street racing, street takeovers and reckless driving amid the trial of wealthy Los Angeles socialite Rebecca Grossman, convicted of killing two small children crossing a street with their family.

The lawsuit claims Chahoian was passed over for a promotion and alleges that bullying by Gascón exacerbated her existing health conditions, leading to chronic fatigue, severe anxiety and weight loss.

“Gascón punished me for telling the truth, for warning the people I swore to serve about the social dangers they have a right to know,” Chahoian said in a statement. “He tried to intimidate me into silence and sent law enforcement to the most sacred place: my home, where my family is supposed to feel safest. When his attempts to intimidate and silence me failed, he resorted to a systematic campaign of retaliation against my reputation, my competence as a lawyer, and my livelihood.”

Transfers, demotions

Other prosecutors say they, too, have been punished for speaking out against Gascón’s policies.

Deputy District Attorney Michael K. Matoba alleges in a lawsuit that he was transferred in October 2021 from a high-profile position in the Sex Crimes Unit to a less prestigious job in the Elder Abuse Unit because he informed the court that Gascón’s general policy of excluding accusations of special circumstances was illegal.

Matoba alleges that the retaliation stems from his involvement in the prosecution of a sexually violent predator. Kenneth Kasten Rasmuson for the murders of two 6-year-old boys, Jeffrey Vargo of Anaheim Hills in 1981 and Miguel Antero of Agoura Hills in 1986.

Although Rasmuson was accused of special circumstances that made him eligible for the death penalty under former District Attorney Jackie Lacey, Gascón decided to dismiss those accusations as part of a mandate that prohibits prosecutors from seeking capital punishment or life in prison without the possibility of probation.

According to the lawsuit, the policy was later changed, but not until Matoba complained about its illegality.

In a separate lawsuit, the deputy prosecutor Shea Sanna alleges he was demoted and transferred for exposing misconduct in the widely publicized case of child molester Hannah Tubbs, who began identifying as a transgender woman after her 2014 arrest for the sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl in Palmdale.

According to their lawsuit, Gascón and his administration pressured Sanna to suppress information about Tubbs’ use of gender identity as a ploy to obtain more favorable prison treatment and retaliated against him when he refused to comply.

Tubbs was sentenced to two years in a juvenile facility after Gascón’s office refused to move the case to adult court and, in a separate case, was sentenced to 15 years in adult prison for a murder in the county. of Kern in 2019.

In another lawsuit, Lesley Klein Sonnenberg, former deputy director of the Family Violence Division, alleged retaliation by Gascón after she informed him that she would continue to file “strikes” against repeat offenders because she considered his directive illegal.

He claimed the district attorney was relying on erroneous statistics claiming that long prison sentences led to higher recidivism rates and provided multiple studies that contradicted his prosecutorial approach.

In response, Sonneberg claimed, she was denied a promotion to acting deputy director after serving as second in command of the Family Violence Division for five years. Additionally, she said she was transferred against her wishes to a “dead-end” position in the Consumer Protection Division’s downtown Los Angeles office.

The Prosecutor’s Office did not respond to requests regarding retaliation claims.

Kathy Cady, a Los Angeles County prosecutor for 30 years before becoming a victims’ rights attorney, said it’s heartbreaking to see former colleagues retaliated against for upholding the law, seeking justice and doing what is ethical.

“These brave prosecutors are true heroes and have my utmost respect,” he said. “The residents of Los Angeles County owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to these men and women for their strength and determination in the face of Gascon’s vengeful removals and other unlawful retaliation.”

Among all the lawsuits, at least one settlement totaling $800,000 has been awarded to Richard Doyleformer deputy district attorney who has since retired. He alleged that Gascón retaliated against him for refusing to drop charges against three anti-police protesters accused of trying to vandalize a train in November 2020 in Compton.

Another repudiation of Gascón’s policies came in March 2023, when a jury awarded the chief deputy prosecutor Shawn Randolph $1.5 million in damages for her lawsuit alleging a retaliatory transfer from a prestigious position to a “dead-end” job after complaining about juvenile sentencing policies.

Hanisee noted that while Hochman can settle retaliation lawsuits, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors controls the money.

“Los Angeles taxpayers are going to pay for George Gascon’s mistakes for years,” Hanisee said. “Gascón is leaving the county and taxpayers with a mountain of liability in lawsuits due to his managerial incompetence. “Most of these lawsuits are based on malicious retaliation against employees who did little more than ask about the wisdom of Gascón’s policies.”