Federal prosecutors expanding efforts to charge local gun crimes in Los Angeles, Ventura Counties

The U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles announced Wednesday expanded efforts to empower local law enforcement officers, who typically present investigations to County district attorneys for prosecution, to bring some violent crime cases involving firearms to federal court, where people convicted of certain gun crimes can face far steeper terms in prison.

"What we're doing here is expanding the number of cases that we bring federally," said Martin Estrada, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, who briefed reporters while standing with LAPD Chief Dominic Choi, LA County Sheriff Robert Luna, and Ventura County Assistant Sheriff Victor Fazio.

"This is an issue that is felt nationally, with this increase in violent gun crimes, and we feel it's our place to use the powerful sentencing tools we have to address this," Estrada said.

Federal mandatory minimum sentences for certain violent crimes committed with the use of firearms can often exceed sentences in local courts under California laws, and officials highlighted a number of successful federal robbery prosecutions that were investigated by local police in Southern California.

"This effort will ensure the most violent people out there on the streets are prosecuted and spend the time in jail that they need to, and what that creates are safer cities, safer communities," said LAPD Chief Dominic Choi.

Violent crime has increased in LA in the first months of 2024, including a 30-percent increase in the number of murders compared with this time last year, according to the LAPD.

The number of people shot has risen by 11-percent, and an increasing number of robberies are being committed with firearms, Choi told the LA Board of Police Commissioners Tuesday.

"We continue to struggle with robberies with firearms, they're up 4-point-6 percent in 2024 compared to 2023," he said.

Estrada didn't respond directly to questions about whether the expanded effort to assist local law enforcement was a response to justice reform initiatives implemented by LA County District Attorney George Gascón, who put strict limits on the use of sentencing enhancements for the use of firearms, effectively reducing potential prison time for some people convicted of using guns during the commission of certain violent crimes.

"What we're doing here is expanding the number of cases that we bring federally, this is an issue that is felt nationally, with this increase in violent gun crimes, and we feel that it's our place to use the powerful sentencing tools we have to address this," Estrada said.

"We are being collaborative in this, we are working with our state, local partners to make this a success, I have personally spoken with the District Attorneys of Ventura and Los Angeles and they are supportive of this effort to ensure that we're targeting the worst of the worst," he said.

Gascón and Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko did not attend the news conference.

Gascón's office disagreed in a statement that the routing of some local police investigations to federal prosecutors, rather than to his office, was an effort to undermine his reform policies.

"District Attorney Gascón fully supports Operation Safe Cities and rejects any assertion that this is an attempt to sidestep his jurisdiction or thwart his discretion as District Attorney," the statement said.

Gascón's rules that limited the use of California's sentencing enhancements were an early focal point of criticism from many of the DA's office prosecutors, and Gascón made some changes to allow enhancements in some egregious cases with approval from office managers.

Michele Hanisee, the president of the the union that represents most prosecutors, the Association of Deputy District Attorneys, said the U.S. Attorney's announcement that federal prosecutors were reaching further into an area traditionally handled by local prosecutors appeared to reflect that not enough was being done to punish people who use guns in violent crimes.

"The federal government is not going to waste its resources by sending their employees out to local agencies to train them on how to use federal statutes, if the local district attorney was doing his job," she said.