Do what you want in Contra Costa County?

[audtatious]

Misdemeanors such as assaults, thefts and burglaries will no longer be prosecuted in Contra Costa County because of budget cuts, the county's top prosecutor said Tuesday.

District Attorney Robert Kochly also said that beginning May 4, his office will no longer prosecute felony drug cases involving smaller amounts of narcotics. That means anyone caught with less than a gram of methamphetamine or cocaine, less than 0.5 grams of heroin and fewer than five pills of ecstasy, OxyContin or Vicodin won't be charged.

People who are suspected of misdemeanor drug crimes, break minor traffic laws, shoplift, trespass or commit misdemeanor vandalism will also be in the clear. Those crimes won't be prosecuted, either.

"We had to make very, very difficult choices, and we had to try to prioritize things. There are no good choices to be made here," said Kochly, a 35-year veteran prosecutor. "It's trying to choose the lesser of certain evils in deciding what we can and cannot do."

Barry Grove, a deputy district attorney who is president of the Contra Costa County District Attorneys Association, said, "There's no question that these kinds of crimes are going to drastically affect the quality of life for all the citizens of Contra Costa County."

The decision not to go after any perpetrators of certain offenses, Grove said, amounts to "holding up a sign and advertising to the criminal element to come to Contra Costa County, because we're no longer going to prosecute you."

Don't even bother submitting the cases, Kochly said Monday in a memo to the Contra Costa County Police Chiefs Association. "If they are submitted, they will be screened out by category by support staff and returned to your department without review by a deputy district attorney," he wrote.

Kochly wrote that he had long taken pride in saying that his office could do "more with less."

"Unfortunately, we have now reached a point where we cannot maintain the status quo," he said. "We will definitely be doing 'less with less' as a prosecution agency."

The changes are needed to help eliminate a $1.9 million budget deficit in the district attorney's office for this fiscal year. By month's end, six deputy district attorneys will be laid off, and 11 more will have to be let go by the end of the year, Kochly said.

The county Board of Supervisors originally proposed cutting the office's budget by $4.1 million. But after Kochly argued that such a reduction would hurt his ability to prosecute petty thefts, the board used sales-tax revenue to close the gap.

Supervisor John Gioia, who represents Richmond, said the list of crimes that Kochly says he won't prosecute is far longer now than what he told the board during its budget deliberations.

"I don't think it's a good idea for the chief prosecutor in the county to inform the public at large what cases they're not going to prosecute," Gioia said.

The district attorney's decision was upsetting news to Janet Kelleghan, an employee at Donna's Gifts in Concord, which has been victimized by thieves in the past.

"If they know they're not going to be prosecuted, there's going to be a lot more shoplifting," Kelleghan said. "I'd ask them to reconsider," she said of the district attorney's office.

Kochly said prosecutors will still consider charging suspects with certain misdemeanors, including domestic violence, driving under the influence, firearms offenses, vehicular manslaughter, sex crimes and assault with a deadly weapon.

E-mail Henry K. Lee at [email protected].

This article appeared on page B - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/...O.DTL

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Sounds like a plan.

[C-Kwik]

While I understand the reasoning behind it, it would seem unwise to make this kind of info public...

[480sx]

<-- Self editing fail.
Modified by 480sx at 9:01 PM 4/22/2009

[480sx]

Have a hard time seeing that stick in the form displayed in that article. Some of it is a great move, but letting the shoplifting, some assaults go is a bad move that i cant see them doing.

Letting the felony drug cases go is where the majority of their money is going to be saved.

[BusyBadger]

Sounds like CC Co. is soon to become the street racing capital of California.

[Armelius]

Quote »People who are suspected of misdemeanor drug crimes, break minor traffic laws, shoplift, trespass or commit misdemeanor vandalism will also be in the clear. Those crimes won't be prosecuted, either.[/quote]Means a** beatings will commence.

[DJ Raijin]

I can translate this article for those who don't want to read the whole thing:

We're going to let the criminals run loose because we love our socialist agenda.

[WDRacing]

I can translate this article for those who don't want to read the whole thing:

We're going to let the criminals run loose because we love our socialist agenda.

We have a system filled with overzealous DA's and ADA's. They prosecute anything and everything. They know how to get around innocence by trying you for a lesser and always convict-able crime. Our JS is garbage and has been for years.

We have over 375,000 people in jail for possession of marijuana. Are you friggin kidding me? 1 gram of coc or meth is basically nothing, so you shouldn't be prosecuted for that anyway. An 8-ball is 3.4 grams, goes for $50 to $125 these days since the Mexican Mafia has become so efficient in getting it in. So you are talking about people getting caught with $20 worth of coc, for personal use. These people shouldn't be going to jail so we can waste our tax dollars "reforming" them.

By not having to prosecute ALL of the cases they can focus on the ones that require focus. A great step in the right direction IMO.

[DJ Raijin]

We have a system filled with overzealous DA's and ADA's. They prosecute anything and everything. They know how to get around innocence by trying you for a lesser and always convict-able crime. Our JS is garbage and has been for years.

We have over 375,000 people in jail for possession of marijuana. Are you friggin kidding me? 1 gram of coc or meth is basically nothing, so you shouldn't be prosecuted for that anyway. An 8-ball is 3.4 grams, goes for $50 to $125 these days since the Mexican Mafia has become so efficient in getting it in. So you are talking about people getting caught with $20 worth of coc, for personal use. These people shouldn't be going to jail so we can waste our tax dollars "reforming" them.

By not having to prosecute ALL of the cases they can focus on the ones that require focus. A great step in the right direction IMO.

I do agree on the minor drug possession charges needing to be less enforced. You've probably read my stance on cannabis that I posted on an earlier topic and if you have, then you'd know how pro-pot I am. Though I must admit I am passionately anti-synthetic.

I also agree on the zealotry of our DA's and ADA's. I sometimes wonder if they get paid per conviction or what. Our system really is no longer innocent until proven guilty. You are tried for a crime, and your lawyer's job is to prove your innocence, not the fault of the police force or DA in fingering you for said crime.

But in all honesty, there are different ways for them to cut costs. Like the bevy of social programs that are a drain on their economy.

[mustangto240sx]

just legalize all drugs and tax the crap out of it. if you want to use and od who cares. alchol is the worst drug of them all. Just have the same rules no using and driving end of story no need for a useless drug war!!!

[HashiriyaS14]

I have no original words for this one.

Matt's "roll eyes" emoticon also reflects the entirety of my impression of this (not sarcasm). WTF. Why even make that press release?

[C-Kwik]

Why even make that press release?

Could be somekind of a political p0ker move. Like, you want to limit our budget? Here's what is going to happen. Now give us money...

[smockers83]

I guess they want to be the next Detroit?