A gang member convicted in adult court of the 2015 murder of a man in Palmdale will be released from LA County jail thanks to a policy announced last year by Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon. Scott Schweble of the Los Angeles Daily News reports that because murderer Andrew Cachu was two months shy of his 18th birthday when he shot and killed 41-year-old Louis Amela, under Proposition 57, the Soros backrolled Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act of 2016, he became eligible for a hearing to determine if he should have been tried in juvenile court. Among the “special directives” Gascon announced days after his election, is one which prohibits his deputies from calling witnesses, including a victim’s family, or presenting evidence supporting the conviction of a juvenile murderer tried in adult court. With no argument to support Cachu’s conviction, the judge had no choice but to transfer the case to the juvenile court. Under California law a murderer convicted in juvenile court must be released from custody by age 25. While Cachu received a 50 year prison sentence for the murder, according to the article, he will be released in a few days having served six years . “The victim’s family is devastated,” said Kathy Cady, a former prosecutor representing them.
But there is a story behind this injustice. Deputy District Attorney Lisa Blair is the person responsible for transfer hearings involving juveniles charged or convicted in adult court. She was a Deputy Public Defender until Gascon hired her earlier this year. Last year, as George Floyd protesters set fires in Los Angeles neighborhoods, then-public defender Blair tweeted “Burn that sh– down.”
Cady also points to Blair’s cozy relationship with the murderer’s family. Emails from Blair to Cachu’s mother indicate that she intended to use her position to gain his release. In one email the mother wrote, “We never (thought) the district attorney (would) be on our side.”
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