NEW: Under new D.A. George Gascon’s reforms, I’ve confirmed his office is trying to dismiss all enhancements & special circumstances against the alleged double murderer/cop killer accused of shooting LASD deputy Gilbert Solano in the back of his head. His sister is irate. @FOXLA
Police say Rhett Nelson shot deputy Solano in the head while he was waiting in line while off duty at Jack in the Box in Alhambra last June. He died in hospital. One hour before that, detectives say Nelson shot and killed 31-year-old Russian snowboarder Dimitry Koltsov. @FOXLA
Gascon is seeking to dismiss special circumstances of multiple murders, and gun enhancements w/ great bodily injury. If a judge signs off on this at a January 11th hearing, it will take LWOP (life w/out parole) off the table for Nelson if convicted. Full story tonight 10pm @FOXLA
Deputy Solano’s sister tells me re: Gascon:
“He’s like the devil, I don’t understand it. He should be there for the families. We are the victims here, my brother is a victim, not this person that shot him! It’s disgusting, and he’s disgusting. Full, emotional intvw 10pm @FOXLA
Statement from LA D.A. George Gascon’s team to me in response to this case. @FOXLA
L.A. District Attorney George Gascon has called a 1pm press conference where we are told he will make “announcements” with victims of crime, and victims advocates. @FOXLA will be covering.
Gascon acknowledges the pushback against his policies over past several days. Says L.A. county has been a prime example of the failures of mass incarceration, and that he never saw any outrage about this.
“I refuse to be a passenger in a ride on a broken system,” he says @FOXLA
Gascon references the Lancaster case where the father is accused of decapitating his children. Says removal of enhancements won’t stop him from being punished. Says he would still face at least 50 years in prison if convicted even without the enhancements.
BREAKING: Judge James Chalfant issues tentative decision in the CRA/Mark Geragos' lawsuit vs L.A. County re: outdoor dining ban. Judge GRANTS a preliminary injunction, writing that the County "acted arbitrarily" and "failed to perform the required risk-benefit analysis." @FOXLA
This does not mean outdoor dining will be able to return right now, because the state Stay at home order is still in effect. However, the judge is restricting L.A. County from continuing the ban indefinitely. It will end on 12/16 and can't be reimposed until an analysis. @FOXLA
The judge writes that L.A. County "could be expected to consider the economic cost of closing 30,000 restaurants, the impact to restaurant owners and their employees, and the psychological and emotional cost to a public tired of the pandemic.” @FOXLA
NEW: L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva tells me his deputies will not take part in enforcing stay at home orders at businesses, which he says have been through enough. He says that's the health department's job, and LASD will focus on "super spreader" events instead. @FOXLA
I asked Sheriff Villanueva about Gov. Newsom's threat to withhold funding.
"I sure hope the Governor doesn't want to revisit the playbook that came form the White House recently involving fires and withholding FEMA funds, I don't think that would play out very well here." @FOXLA
Sheriff Villanueva also tells me he found out about the new stay at home orders from Governor Newsom's press conference, and there was no coordination with law enforcement beforehand, which he says is concerning when the Governor is expecting enforcement of his orders. @FOXLA
THREAD: A summary of what we just heard from the L.A. County Department of Public Health. 1) They have no data/numbers tying outdoor dining to surge in cases in LA. 2) They based decision off a national CDC study that didn't discern indoor/outdoor dining - "best info we have".
DPH was repeatedly pressed by Board members Barger & Hahn as to what science/data they have to justify this order. Dr. Ferrer deferred to Dr. Muntu Davis, who pointed to the CDC study. Neither were able to provide a shred of their own data, after 8 months of this pandemic.
These public health officials make hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. They are paying two PR firms millions of dollars to guide their messaging. It is unfathomable that once again, knowing they would be asked bout this, Dr. Ferrer deferred, and had no data to back her up.
NEW: Dr. Barbara Ferrer just recommended to the LA County Board of Supervisors that all public or private gatherings outside of one's household be prohibited except for outdoor church services and protests, citing rising cases and a fear that hospitals will be overrun. @FOXLA
Dr. Ferrer points out that the homeless population is exempted from L.A. County's curfew of 10pm-5am. @FOXLA
Dr. Christina Ghaly says L.A. County has enough physical hospital beds/rooms for a potential surge in hospitalizations, but there are concerns about having enough staffing to handle such a surge. @FOXLA
NEW: Attorney @markgeragos, who owns a restaurant in downtown L.A., is suing L.A. County over order to close outdoor dining at restaurants, calling it an “irrational and unlawful overreach” of emergency powers, and saying that the science and data doesn’t back it up. @FOXLA
THREAD: Just wrapped interview w/ @markgeragos, who is suing LA County over outdoor dining order.
"I'm as progressive as anybody, but this is regressive," he says. "There will be accountability, we're not going away, we've got the deep pockets to pursue this and we will" @FOXLA
Geragos says there is zero science, zero data to back up L.A. County's decision. He says @SheilaKuehl, @MRTempower, and @HildaSolis, who voted to uphold the order, have "outsourced" their governing to Dr. Ferrer, who he says is unelected, unqualified, and has no answers. @FOXLA