Under fire for under-sentencing a convicted child molester, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón’s spokesman Alex Bastian appeared on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” with Dana Perino and Bill Hemmer Tuesday morning after the network aired audiotape of Hannah Tubbs, who transitioned to be a woman after facing charges, discussing his two-year sentence with his father.
You can watch the interview here: https://video.foxnews.com/v/6298495500001
Bonus: The plea deal spared Tubbs from having to register as a sex offender.
From the Tubbs tape:
You won’t have to register?" her father asks on the other line later in the conversation.
"I won’t have to do none of that," Tubbs replies.
"So what are they going to do to you then?"
"Nothing," Tubbs answers, then laughs.
Fortunately for Tubbs, Gascón did not try the convicted sex offender, now 26, as an adult for an offense committed two weeks before Tubbs turned 18.
Having pleaded guilty, the network reported, Tubbs was sentenced to two years, a term that could end up being as short as six months, and in a juvenile facility.
The ten-year told victim, now 18, is not happy. “The things he did to me and made me do that day was beyond horrible for a ten-year-old girl to have to go through," she responded. "I want him tried as an adult for the crimes he committed against me."
As the Los Angeles Times reported, Gascón now has second thoughts.
Then Sunday evening, deep into a long holiday weekend, the reform-minded prosecutor made a dramatic shift. In an emailed statement, Gascón said his approach was incorrect: “The complex issues and facts of her particular case were unusual, and I should have treated them that way.”
The sudden reversal came after Gascón’s staff learned that Fox News was preparing to publish jailhouse recordings in which Tubbs crowed about receiving a light sentence and spoke derisively about the victim, a 10-year-girl she attacked in a Palmdale bathroom.
Now, Gascón says, “If I had it to do all over again, she would be prosecuted in adult court.”
Bastian told Hemmer and Perino that he was “shocked” and “disturbed” by the tape. And he praised his boss, saying, “He’s always evolving. We’re always looking to make adjustments in order to do things better.”
It’s true. Gascón knows how to evolve.
He was cop, then he was a district attorney — without ever having prosecuted a case in court. It’s amazing how a former cop can get ahead. All he has to do is turn his back on law enforcement and chastise his colleagues for being “addicted to incarcerating people.”
He’s the rare prosecutor who worked to make it easier for unlicensed drivers not only to drive, but also to keep their cars.
I don’t mean to suggest Gascón is never tough on criminals. Problem is, he has a history of being especially tough on people who aren’t a threat to public safety.
The most notorious example was his effort to prosecute Loyresha Gage, an aunt who was crossing Mission Street with her niece and nephew when a car mowed down and killed toddler Mi’yana Gregory in 2014.
San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón charged the aunt of a 2-year-old killed by a hit-and-run driver with felony child endangerment. Loyresha Gage, 25, didn't run over her niece Mi'yana Gregory as the toddler stood alone in a crosswalk after 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 15; an unknown hit-and-run driver hit the child. Yet it is Gage who has been charged with a felony. If convicted, she faces years in prison.
No surprise, a jury failed to find Gage guilty.
Gascón sees himself as an enlightened prosecutor. But he tried to throw the book at an otherwise law-abiding aunt — for jaywalking with her niece, who was killed by a rogue driver. If convicted, Gage, a black woman, could have faced ten years in prison. (The driver, by the way, never was caught.)
The D.A. was less eager to get a harsh sentence for a convicted child molester, who likely will serve six months for molesting a 10-year-old girl. Yes, Gascón is a true progressive.
Debra J. Saunders is a fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Chapman Center for Citizen Leadership. Contact her at dsaunders@discovery.org.
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