July 2019
Volume 4, Issue 7
Dear Friends:
This month, I would like to talk about the death penalty.

As a career prosecutor, I believe the death penalty should be reserved for the worst of the worst offenders. As your District Attorney, I have asked for and received death sentences for eight defendants in some of Los Angeles County’s most horrendous killings:
D.A. Lacey Visits Project LEAD Students
The fifth-graders at Telfair Elementary School ended their school year with a visit from District Attorney Jackie Lacey.

District Attorney Lacey personally recruited seven deputy district attorneys to work with students at the Pacoima school after reading a 2018 series by Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez. More than 20 percent of the school’s 652 students identify as homeless.

“If you looked at me as a shy, skinny fifth-grader, you would have never imagined I would be an elected district attorney of the largest prosecutor’s office in the nation,” she told the assembly of almost 100 graduates of Project LEAD, the office’s law-related education program. “I can look at your faces and tell you all are going places.”

A Los Angeles Daily News story on the visit may be read by clicking here .

District Attorney Lacey also visited the mock trial performed using American Sign Language by students with hearing impairment from the Marlton School in Baldwin Hills. Deputy District Attorney Alice Kurs taught the 20-week curriculum using sign language.

Click here to watch an ABC7 report on the Marlton students’ mock trial.

Both schools were part of another record-breaking year for Project LEAD. This school year, 275 volunteers taught about 3,000 students in 98 classrooms at 55 Los Angeles County schools.

“Project LEAD makes a difference in the lives of students and in their communities,” said District Attorney Lacey, who taught the curriculum for five years at Lorena Street Elementary School in Boyle Heights.

The Project LEAD curriculum focuses on the social and legal consequences of juvenile crimes, such as truancy, illicit drug use, shoplifting and graffiti. It also teaches students techniques for resolving conflicts and resisting peer pressure and promotes tolerance and respect for diversity.
Fraud Alert
  Significant Cases
A seemingly simple fender bender might really be a financial fraud.

Read the Fraud Alert and watch the video here .
  • A robbery suspect killed a Bellflower convenience store clerk who testified against him. Learn the sentence for killing a witness.

  • A convicted rapist sexually assaulted two women who accepted rides in his vehicle. Read about his sentence and how he was caught.

  • A woman was charged in connection with a fatal hit-and-run collision in North Hollywood. Find out how many years she may face if convicted for murder.
State Hospitals Linked to Court Via Video
Patients receiving mental health treatment may remain in the Metropolitan State Hospital – instead of county jail – during their criminal case under a new video court appearance program.

The goal is to keep patients out of the county jail system so they may stay on track with their mental health treatment. The use of video technology helps alleviate jail overcrowding and potentially saves taxpayers millions of dollars in incarceration costs.

Court appearances via video began in October for defendants housed at the Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk. The video feed connects defendants and their attorneys in the hospital to a specially equipped courtroom in the Bellflower Courthouse for pretrial hearings.

This is the first and only program of its kind in California, according to the Metropolitan State Hospital Police Department, which is seeking to replicate this model in other counties with state hospitals that provide mental health treatment.

To date, 26 defendants have had their misdemeanor cases heard on an expedited basis.

In the past, defendants moved from the state hospital typically spent up to six months in county jail (at an average of $654 a day excluding medical and mental health treatment costs) awaiting trial on a charge with a maximum sentence of one year in custody. Other cases went to warrant because the hospitalized defendants did not appear in court.

The program, which reduces court dockets by resolving misdemeanor cases within weeks instead of months or years, was recognized by the National Association of Counties.
Did You Know...?
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Animal Cruelty Prosecution Program was the first of its kind in the nation. Established in 2007, the program oversees the prosecution of cases involving the illegal treatment of animals. Deputy district attorneys assigned to the program recently charged a man for selling sick puppies. They also are investigating racehorse deaths at Santa Anita Park.
Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office | (213) 974-3512 | info@da.lacounty.gov

Not signed up for our newsletter? Click here to join our email list.

STAY CONNECTED