A Re-Review of Soros District Attorneys
An examination on the impact made by George Soros contributions that helped elected district attorneys who were lax enforcing on certain laws.
(HI. If you’re reading this, please tell Twitter and Elon Musk to bring back @crabcrawler1. I don’t know who to contact now that Ella Irwin resigned, but I’d appreciate it if you brought me up to anyone/everyone you could.)
George Soros and how he funded district attorney campaigns across the USA is the answer to the difficult question of what caused the modern disconnect in law-and-order. Left-wing billionaire activist wealth is what caused it.
It’s a subject of interest to other billionaires today. Elon Musk brought it up a few weeks ago.
In the replies of that exchange, I found this nice comment from someone who remembered the Soros DAs thread I had originally made.
This comment made me feel nice. So I’m spreading the good vibes and bringing the thread back.
There's the usual response among progressives that it's anti-semitic to speak the name George Soros at all. But when I released my original Twitter thread on the subject, I took the time to explore the ramifications of the people that George helped get elected.
This is not an exhaustive list. What I did in my old thread was go through ten different examples where a line of Soros funding was clearly established, and then I traced the career highlights of the district attorneys in question. I talk about the old stuff but I also added sections of new updates for each of these cases. Something that I recreated here because I was wrongly deplatformed from the blue bird site. Ironic given that Elon Musk is in charge now. But I digress.
If you want more of a straight-up list where as many Soros names are collected as possible, I recommend heading over here to Capital Research’s page.
A year after my Twitter thread, the most significant addition I’ve seen is how Soros selected puppets have simply had time to cause more damage to America. Collectively speaking, the New York Post estimates the billionaire dumped $40 million into his district attorney experiment.
The short-term response people have when hearing George Soros dumped money into something is they think it’s abhorrent that the world’s wealthiest influence politics at this scale. But more often than not, the money dumping seems to work for the candidates in question. It gives them the winning edge against competition in terms of last-minute advertising.
A heavily-cited source when talking about this subject is this Politico article from August 2016. It’s something that very much sets up the situation. Billionaire activist backer George Soros dedicated a significant amount of his wealth into funding political groups worldwide. Historically speaking, it has always been his thing. But when we're talking about the start of the Trump-era, George's interests intensified across the USA. George Soros intentionally targeted district attorneys as something he wanted to back money into because DAs have heavy sway into how crimes are prosecuted. When speaking in terms of the progressive agenda, Soros saw DAs as the people to enact bail reforms and other policy changes for America's courts.
Back from 2016 onward there was a large waiting period for a few years, as much of the fervor surrounding these district attorneys sprung up shortly after the onset of COVID.
George Gascón (Los Angeles County, California)
When it comes to tracking down sources for funding in this field, you can start by looking at government websites like this one where you can easily type in SOROS to the contributor search bar. The search results will show you things like how Soros Fund Management donated $1,500,000 to “CA Justice & Public Safety: Committee to Support George Gascón for Los Angeles District Attorney 2020” on September 24th, 2020.
Other places like the Los Angeles County Registrar have the historical monetary paperwork for many such groups like it.
1.) (11/6/2020) (+ 6/16/2022) A Los Angeles prosecutor blamed DA Gascón for the deaths of two officers, since the gang member reportedly behind them was out on probation because of a plea deal agreement. Gascón's three-strike policy system meant that suspect Justin William Flores had been allowed to plead no contest for a weapons charge, and take a plea deal instead. "George Gascón says he cares about gun violence. Actions speak louder than words! He refuses to fully charge & prosecute existing gun cases. Felon in poss of a firearm with a prior strike-no prison, no accountability & no public safety," said LA Deputy District Attorney Jon Hatami.
2.) (2/22/2021) Gascón called the death penalty a racist "irreversible" process that had no public safety value. "It's past time to abolish capital punishment," he wrote. (+ 11/23/2021) Bill Melugin of Fox News discusses the history of the “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act” in California. Passed by voters in 2014, co-authored by George Gascón.
3.) (3/17/2021) Prosecutor Richard Doyle came forward with accusations that Gascón had personal motivations behind his decision to drop charges against three protesters soon after he took office. The protesters tried to detail a train. Doyle, having 34 years of experience, believed the case against the trio was solid. One of the suspects tried claiming that dragging a barricade across the tracks wouldn't have derailed the train, but caused electrical problems instead. Jail calls obtained by local media suggest that a suspect's personal attorney could've been a factor in getting them released, since that lawyer happened to have also donated $1000 to Gascón's DA campaign. (+ 3/24/2021) "L.A. DA George Gascón recently touted that he stopped 77 juvenile cases from going to adult court. One is Jalen Yoakum's, a Main Street Mafia Crip who murdered an innocent man at age 17. Now age 20, he has continued to post his gang allegiances from juvie." wrote Bill Melugin of Fox News. The kid in question had been on the wrong side of the law since he was as young as 12.
From the March 17th 2021 story. “In the interest of justice,” a case against a protester was suspicious dismissed.
4.) (5/19/2021) "Fourteen Los Angeles County cities have now passed votes of no confidence in L.A. County District Attorney George Gascón and his policies, with 5 more cities voting to do so last night. (Diamond Bar, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Arcadia, Santa Fe Springs)," wrote Bill Melugin. At the time this was all going on, it was significant to see such a public breakaway of confidence in leadership. (+ 5/6/2022) Another way that confidence gets shaken is when a very high-profile comedian gets attacked onstage, and the DA refused to fully charge the assault as a felony. That's what happened to Dave Chappelle during a comedy festival.
5.) (12/17/2021) A leaked letter from George Gascón's office details the prosecutor's plans to expand so-called "diversion" programs for youths when they commit certain crimes. Offenses like murder and rape were excluded from qualifying for these programs, but felonies like: vehicle theft, arson, robbery/burglary, and sexual battery were accepted for consideration in the diversion program.
6.) (6/8/2022) The recall effort against San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin was successful. This here meaning voters were angry enough for a long enough period of time to make an effort to organize. It was a warning for LA's George Gascón that he wasn't invincible, given how his "soft-on-crime" policies were comparable to Boudin's. (+ 6/9/2022) A gang member attempted to rush through getting a plea deal under Gascón, worried about the potential of the recall effort leading to a stricter District Attorney taking over. The suspect faced murder charges in a triple shooting, and was recorded talking about trying to get things knocked down to manslaughter instead. (+ 6/9/2022) Gascón blamed rising crime rates on "bad policies" that "over-criminalized" communities. These comments were a deflection effort amid the recall effort. To quote the DA's train-of-thought: "To create a safer community, absolutely we have to hold people accountable, but we also have to understand that we cannot do business as we always have and think that we're going to get any safer because the reality is that the problems we have today [are] the result of many of the bad policies that over-criminalize communities without really looking for a path forward to create the reduction of crime, the prevention of crime." (+ 6/16/2022) Campaigners behind the recall campaign against George Gascón announced they met the necessary signature threshold to put the DA's ouster to a formal ballot. At this point, organizers of the effort urged people to stay focused regardless, as more signatures would likely be needed anyway in case any of the initial tally were voided.
Gascón has stubbornly survived despite continued controversies.
They tried recalling Gascón a second time but that effort failed. It turned out that more than 300 signatures on the petition were from dead people. A few of the prosecutors who criticized Gascón were demoted to less visible positions. it was interpreted as retaliation and meant to serve as a message to anyone else in the office to not bash the embattled DA.
Gascón wrote an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times to confirm he's unironically "with the blacks," after that phrase was used by others to mock him. It's a virtue signal, to state the obvious. It was something that Gascón applied to his work. In another instance he directed prosecutors to consider a suspect's immigration status when charging them. Diversion programs were encouraged as an alternative whenever possible, if charges raised the possibility of someone being deported. Then there was that time Gascón suspended a prosecutor for misgendering a child molester.
An L.A. prosecutor with over two decades of talent left his job because of how Gascón and his policies were failures of leadership for a District Attorney.
Gascón faced activist pressure from families who had people die in custody. Protesters stood outside the DA's offices in an effort to get him to do more. But part of the job of being a progressive district attorney includes setting people up for disappointment. In the case of the officer-involved shooting of Andres Guardado, it was Gascón’s office that had to announce that there wasn’t enough evidence to prosecute.
Los Angeles County agreed with at least one prosecutor that they were in fact targeted by Gascón. Shawn Randolph sued the DA after being demoted for speaking out against policies, and won $1.5 million in damages.
The race to replace Gascón in the next election includes challengers like former US Attorney General Nathan Hochman, among others in a heated primary campaign season.
In the meantime, the current DA has to deal with additional lawsuits. One of them being a wrongful death lawsuit against Gascón for failing to follow the state’s three-strikes law and not properly punishing a criminal, who then went on to murder two cops.
Chesa Boudin (Former) (San Francisco, California)
The Washington Times said that Boudin benefited from over $600,000 in Soros bucks. He made bank off of it. Most of the time people representing George Soros use the excuse that he donates to PACs who then donate on his behalf to DA campaigns, as a roundabout way of denying direct contribution.
1.) (11/11/2019) Twitter post from Chesa Boudin where he celebrates his election victory. His statement touches on how he intends to be some kind of champion for progressive values during his tenure as District Attorney. Specifically, Boudin expressed his belief that the "tough-on-crime" era was wrong. "There can be no justice when we utilize prison and jail as the solution to all of our problems," Boudin wrote. (+ 1/13/2020) One of the first things that Boudin did at the start of his time as DA was fire people. "At least 7 attorneys 2 days after starting job," was what was reported. Why did he do that? Boudin makes it clear that the firings (which took place in the criminal division) were so that he could surround himself with staff who agreed with his soft-on-crime policymaking style. (+ 1/22/2020) Within a matter of weeks after taking office, Boudin eliminated cash bail for all criminal cases. Instead the DA's office shifted things to a system of "risks" on the basis of public safety and/or whether or not someone might skip town rather than go to trial. The statement released alongside this occasion had Boudin lamenting about racism and that cash bail was racist.
2.) (1/5/2021) Troy McAlister was allowed to be free thanks to Boudin's policies, and he killed an aspiring real estate lady alongside a second victim that was 60-years-old in a drunk driving crash. The car itself was stolen. Further background in this piece describes how Chesa was raised by members of the Weather Underground. Usage of the pandemic as a scapegoat, eliminating cash bail, and the purging of veteran prosecutors is seen as a pattern of behaviors for both Boudin and other progressive prosecutors like him. Top highlighted quote in that piece: “It’s bizarre and alarming to hear a district attorney argue that jail is not a deterrent and actually a threat to public safety. It’s like hearing a fire chief declare he doesn’t believe in water.” (+ 4/15/2021) "Dwayne Grayson assaulted and robbed a 68-year-old Asian man while saying "I hate Asians" and *recorded the attack. He was on for a prior robbery. [Chesa Boudin] just dropped the charges and diverted him." (+ 4/24/2021) "A 7-month-old baby is dead, and the man charged with his murder was arrested twice this year for felony domestic violence — and released. District Attorney Chesa Boudin dismissed 113 of 131 felony DV cases last fall, and advocates are alarmed."
3.) (7/8/2021) The crime spree in San Francisco got bad enough that the president of California’s Retailer’s Association felt the need to call out the district attorney. People's attention shifted to this crime wave after a viral video on social media showed a group of thieves ambushing a Neiman Marcus, where they swiftly looted the store's handbag inventory. The association head said that Boudin's policy style sent a signal to aspiring criminals that they had the go-ahead to shoplift since the risk of prosecution was set as low it could've ever been.
4.) (9/25/2021) Pressure surrounding the issue of accelerating crime in San Francisco was met with a parallel effort by reporters trying to obtain hard data. There were problems with that. At least insofar as getting a complete picture in a timely fashion. The lack of ease-of-access for information was embarrassing in contrast to other jurisdictions within the USA, and all of *that* was further spotlighted via the restrictions presented during the COVID era. (+ 12/21/2021) People had their opinions on why Boudin wasn't releasing San Francisco crime data. Local journalists were furious. This sort of information was supposed to be incredibly easy to access, yet for some reason the Boudin regime was having problems making it transparent. In terms of exacts it came down to this "DA Stat" dashboard. What was supposed to be Boudin's solution to make data easier to see, actually made it harder to view because it didn't show the whole story behind particular aspects of the court system. (+ 3/4/2022) Boudin finally released crime data, and it was published in the framing of trying to compare to Gascón's time within that position. But Boudin apparently raised the bar with how many detainees were enrolled within the DA's "diversion" programs. Boudin's office attempted to deflect onto the COVID pandemic as an excuse for the matter, but the data still showed a decline in convictions all the same across the board.
5.) (10/24/2021) Two more prosecutors abandoned their jobs at the San Francisco District Attorney's office, in response to Boudin's policy decisions. In statements to the press the pair said that Boudin was too reckless in how he didn't charge people for particular crimes, and that it was egregious enough that it overshadowed the original progressive intentions at the heart of these moves. The two former prosecutors cited a litany of example situations where repeat offenders with a rap sheet of felony convictions had been allowed free to go and commit crimes again in the future.
6.) (11/3/2021) DA Boudin charged a police officer for the 2020 death of a mentally ill man who had been injured in 2017 as a result of the cop shooting him. Boudin's office noted that it was only the second time in San Francisco's history that an on-duty officer faced homicide charges. An autopsy report indicated that the dead guy's organs had been scarred from the bullets. (I wanted to take a moment to point something out. When it comes to Soros District Attorneys, I included a few stories throughout these lists that involve police officers for the obvious reason that it has always been a high-priority progressive issue.)
This section is more dedicated to Boudin's successor rather than the guy himself. Boudin pretty much disappeared off the news map after he was ousted.
After the ouster of Chesa Boudin came the reign of Brooke Jenkins as the new district attorney. She was someone highly critical of Boudin's body of work.
The installment of Jenkins was great for police morale, and it led to police initiating more traffic stops per day. Cops directly stated during meetings that the new leadership changed their tactics immensely. They really simply worked harder after Jenkins took charge. It was a sentiment that stayed in the months afterward.
Jenkins felt obligated to drop the case of a police officer killing a man because she felt like it was done for personally political purposes.
Brooke Jenkins removed the no cash bail edict part of Boudin’s policies. She even expanded the usage of it in misdemeanors, and declared a tougher war on drugs. The new DA even dropped charges against a police officer who was in the middle of field training, and happened to be in a situation where he had to shoot a man running from police.
Larry Krasner (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Back in 2017, Soros-affiliated Philadelphia Justice and Public Safety PAC said they’d be spending $280,000 for media ad buys. Something that Krasner’s campaign called a welcome surprise. It was later said that Soros helped Krasner win by spending $1.7 million on positive ads. The Soros-affiliated Color of Change PAC endorsed Krasner for re-election as a strong reform candidate.. It was a race that he easily won against his Republican opponent.
1.) (3/15/2018) Larry Krasner tried to innovate in the field of seeking lighter sentences. To that effect that meant, when it came to his colleagues, explaining at sentencing hearings why a particular defendant deserved the length of a sentence that they were proposing. (+ 1/31/2022) DA Krasner devoted resources aiming towards trying to find detainees who could be diverted into social services programs. The project included prosecutors talking to defendants themselves in order to try and find a solution that balanced the needs of both parties. The team behind this project reviewed roughly 500 cases a month.
2.) (3/29/2021) A stabbing incident that caused the death of a 32-year-old transgendered person in Germantown led to the creation of an LGBTQ+ advisory board at the Philadelphia District Attorney's office. Krasner's people released a statement saying that he'd be aggressive on this case. It was a motion for public support that even the media report I'm citing felt the need to point out Krasner was "running for reelection." (+ 2/7/2022) The piece reveals that Krasner's mindset was seemingly believing prosecution *of any kind* was evil, and that the DA made a comparison that likened previous prosecutors to Nazis. Another critique brought up was how the DA had terrible social skills when it came to his professional relationships with other key people within local government. A former assistant district attorney that worked for Krasner comes out to disavow his old boss. While their op-ed leads with the political ramifications of Krasner doing a poor job, the author of the piece adds graphs/data showing the significant decline in conviction rates for various crimes. A downturn that all happened under Krasner's watch.
3.) (5/5/2021) Krasner had to face a voting bloc that was interested in his track record when it came to prosecution rates. Interest in the subject of crime rates jumped as much as 22 percent within tallied ranges of polls, so it was on people's minds. (+ 11/22/2021) The interest in crime rates didn't stop throughout the year. By November people were talking about the uptick of homicides, which were approaching the 500 mark in terms of victims. One of the focuses when it came to Krasner's work was how gun offenses had seen much less in terms of conviction rates.
4.) (6/15/2021) DA Krasner's office hosted a series of town hall meeting to debate about how to solve the city's gun violence issue. The solutions came down to things like changing people's hopes about their neighborhoods, and issues of resource allocation. “One thing about kids in this neighborhood, they don’t know what they can be. They only know what they see. And the only thing they see is dirt bikes, drugs, killings,” said one resident. (+ 11/23/2021) Philly was set to breach 500 homicides by the end of the year. For context, it had been 499 in 2020 and 356 in 2019. The occasion called for a "gun violence" press conference involving Philly's mayor and DA Krasner to show up and address the crime issue. In this particular report, gang violence is highlighted. Specifically how in the 1970s, homicides went down thanks to a social services group called The House of Umoja negotiating peace. (+ 12/7/2021) The number of homicides went up by a lot since late November 2021. By December 6th, 521 people had died by homicide in Philadelphia. It was a significant milestone historically. Enough that the former mayor Michael A. Nutter felt the need to write an op-ed to demand District Attorney Krasner make apologies to families. (+ 12/20/2021) Philadelphia hit 540 homicides by the end of the year. Krasner had a breakdown of the numbers. "Between December the 10th and December the 18th, we had 163 gun or gun violence incidents. 57 arrests were made by Philadelphia police, so the arrests are being made, more or less, at a rate of about 35 percent of those cases. Of the 57 arrests made by police, the DA's office opened and charged 56 of those cases, so we are charging them at a rate approximately at 96 or 97 percent."
5.) (12/13/2021) Krasner had to publicly apologize for downplaying the city’s violent crimes. “We don’t have a crisis of lawlessness. We don’t have a crisis of crime. We don’t have a crisis of violence,” he originally said. The DA’s remarks were criticized by members of the community given how Black/Latino murders that year exceeded 500 deaths.
6.) (6/13/2022) (+ 6/14/2022) Republican State Representatives Torren Ecker, Josh Kail, and Tim O' Neal told the media about their proposal to impeach DA Krasner. It came during the summer crime wave, and those behind the endeavor argued that the situation was grim enough that going through a lengthy impeachment process was worth the time. "The people of the city aren't backing him. Former leaders of the city, current leaders of the city, have called for… him to step in and start prosecuting crimes," said Ecker. It wasn't the first time that state officials had recommended Krasner's ouster, either.
What has Larry Krasner been up to since my Twitter thread from last summer? Republicans tried impeaching Larry Krasner but it didn't work. In fact, the failure to impeach Krasner over his policies managed to embolden him even further. Impeachment didn’t go through because of how close the split between left and right-wing parties were.
Krasner survived what the New Yorker called a Republican panic.
But on the other hand, Democrat mayor candidates suggested ways of working around DA Krasner, as a sales pitch meant to sway voters. One suggestion was referring cases to federal authorities instead of the DA's office. As for how Philadelphia is doing in 2023, they’ve actually seen a decline in homicides in recent years. But elsewhere, Krasner still faced problems with repeat offenders within Philly's juvenile justice system. Black youth and poor youths are rearrested for various offenses after going through city programs.
Joe Gonzales (Bexar County, Texas)
The Soros-affiliated Texas Justice & Public Safety PAC "poured nearly $1 million" into making sure Joe Gonzales won in 2018.
"The Soros-funded Texas Justice & Safety PAC made 22 in-kind contributions to Gonzales’ campaign totaling $958,000. The contributions were made mostly for media-buys and mailers ahead of Tuesday’s primary."
In the case of Joe Gonzales it meant resurrecting things like the cite-and-release program.
1.) (4/15/2020) At the onset of the COVID pandemic, Gonzales was one of a group of prosecutors who challenged Governor Greg Abbott’s orders that limited the release of jailed violent crime offenders, unless they paid bail. While the group’s consensus at the time largely argued about public health, there were also remarks by the Democrat attorneys surrounding the legitimacy of cash bail.
2.) (8/26/2021) The Texas Supreme Court decided to block the mask mandate that was in place for Bexar County. It was the latest in a dispute that began after Gov. Abbott issued an executive order that barred public places from adding such rules. DA Gonzales had at some point declared not to prosecute school officials from requiring masks because of “confusing” litigation.
3.) (2/23/2022) Bexar County decided the best time to bail out inmates was during an uptick in local criminal activities. Again, by now, the media was catching onto the pattern that the people being free to walk the streets were repeat offenders (the article names a few drug traffickers as examples). The police chief even noted how empty the pretrial detention areas had begun to feel. It's noted that local activist groups like the Texas Organizing Project took credit for the effort, helping over 700 people get out of jail since 2020. Also: the Texas Organizing Project campaigned on behalf of DA Joe Gonzales. (+ 5/25/2022) Same guy who wrote the previous article talking about the Texas Organizing Project did a follow-up reviewing the fuller extent of the activist group's impact on bailing out repeat offenders. In 2020, out of 447 of TOP's offenders bailed out: 278 (62 percent) were arrested for felonies and domestic violence offenses, with 341 (76 percent) having been arrested twice before.
4.) (5/4/2022) Abortion debates began ramping up amid the SCOTUS deliberating the overturn of Roe vs. Wade. DA Gonzales wrote on social media that his office would not prosecute abortion cases if the practice became illegal. (+ 6/3/2022) In the days following the Uvalde school shooting massacre, DA Joe Gonzales decided to announce that his office would be destroying stockpiled firearms they had possession of, after the wrap-up of criminal cases. It was seen as a political maneuver by Gonzales to shore up election support, following Republican criticism surrounding abortion and immigration issues. The DA touted the standard "legal gun owners have nothing to worry about" talking point during an interview after this decision was announced.
Joe Gonzales isn’t noted as much as other members of this list, but he still has had some media spotlight since mid-2022. Gonzales managed an easy win for a second term over his Republican opponent with a difference of 12 percentage points in the election. Gonzales took it as a sign that people appreciated his policy approach of focusing mostly on violent crimes. Gonzales even clamped down on plea bargains for drunk drivers in DWI cases. His new restrictions cut off the possibility for plea bargains when it came to people with previous DWI offenses, and anyone caught in a DWI who also caused accidents.
It seems that Joe Gonzales had a second round of help from George Soros during the election season. $1 million from the billionaire directly, and an additional $150,000 from one of his PACs went towards funding advertisements and polling services.
Elsewhere, local outlet KSAT did a story outlining how working at the Bexar County District Attorney's Office fostered a workplace environment filled with favoritism, office politics, and lack of clear communication from leadership.
Gonzales actively avoided taking questions with KSAT when they confronted him with the findings of their investigation.
José Garza (Travis County, Texas)
It was said that Soros spent more than $600,000 to help Garza get elected. Garza’s own office rounded things down to $409,000 however. But yes in the end Soros money helped the guy get elected.
1.) (5/20/2021) We lead off by learning that a grandmother had been stabbed. It turned out to be a revenge plot because the grandmother's son had been dating the suspect's ex-wife. Christopher Henry, behind the grandmother slaying, had been let out on bond after being arrested for robberies in June 2019. (+ 5/27/2021) What were Jose Garza's particular bail and sentencing policies? His office issued a letter outlining their guidance: risk assessments were by default favored towards victims, with designations between "attendance risk" (not showing up to court) and "flight risk" (fleeing the cops) being outlined. Any offender under the age of 40 was also granted "universal parole consideration."
2.) (6/25/2021) Jose Garza made it possible to get a plea deal in the case of Isaac Thomas Jr. killing Joshua Hardesty. (+ 3/9/2022) Democrats opposed legislation by Republicans by coming together and declaring Austin a safe space for LGBTQ+ and transgender families. (+ 6/9/2022) Jose Garza came together with other local leaders to promise they'd look into ways to further reduce gun violence.
3.) (7/2021) Publications like the Austin Monthly claimed Jose Garza would be performative for criminal justice. What does that mean? "Garza has focused on campaign platforms like ending cash bail, bolstering diversion programs that help defendants avoid felony convictions, and focusing on violent crime rather than low-level drug violations."
4.) (7/26/2021) Travis County was rejecting cases before they'd go through the court system. Officially speaking the DA told litigators to be dismissed based on whether or not there was probable cause. They framed it as shifting focus to violent crimes, in terms of prioritization. But what things boiled down to, according to an analysis by local news, was that the Travis County DA rejected 142 felony cases in a timespan of four months. Which bluntly speaking was dozens upon dozens more than usual. (+ 8/5/2021) Debate surrounding how many dismissed cases the Travis County DA was responsible for was looked into by the investigators. Changes within how rejections and dismissals were coded caused some of the numbers to spike, making it difficult to determine exact numbers.
5.) (8/3/2021) DA Jose Garza decided to approach criticism by saying officers in Austin were the lazy ones, not investigating crimes to the fullest extent they've can. "Rogue officers" is what Garza labeled it as. "Failing to investigate crimes reported by our citizens for perceived political gain is a gross violation of the public trust and make us less safe," Garza wrote in a letter. Recent cases, and how police vs. prosecutors handled the matters, cause tensions between the parties. Police believe they've had good cases while prosecutors have had to make these investigators drop them anyway. (+ 12/17/2021) The rift between Garza and the police carried on through the year. Even early on in the DA's tenure he had to deal with indicting cops found guilty of crimes while on the job. Even more confusing was how these charges came after their own police department cleared the guys. It led to questions about how Garza handled things in his office. Nineteen prosecutors had left over issues that included a "too fast, too furious" approach. But alternatively, the far-left Garza was seemingly brought in as a response for police accountability called for because of how voters saw the previous DA as too relaxed on that front. Garza is noted as being a member of the DSA, and working at the US-Mexico border as a public defender. Garza's primary battle with Moore was heated, and he made several campaign promises for things like bail reform to win enough support to beat her. “Garza trounced Moore with 68% of the vote in the runoff election. Critics noted that liberal billionaire George Soros, a well-known supporter of “progressive prosecutor” candidates nationwide, poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into Garza’s campaign. Garza downplayed the donation, saying the money came long after his grass-roots effort had attracted tens of thousands of new voters.” (+ 2/19/2022) Garza oversaw the charging of 19 cops. The officers faced felonies over their tactics used during 2020's summer protests. The DA made a statement claiming these indictments were not politically motivated, and instead said the aim was to try and restore community trust in law enforcement.
6.) (5/24/2022) Garza’s policies face criticism in the aftermath of an officer-involved shooting between cops and a suspect. It was revealed that Brandon Louis Marshall had been out on personal bond for assault/firearms charges, and this was in line with the DA’s “relaxed” guidelines.
Since last year’s thread, DA Garza has had more baggage come his way. The grieving family of a man beaten to death by a mob of five suspects called out the light sentences Garza's office doled out to the attackers. From what was expected to be life in prison turned into trips to so-called “rehab” centers, and for others turned into dismissal of charges.
Earlier on this year, a Texas court ordered Jose Garza's office to record grand jury proceedings when it came to investigations of use-of-force by law enforcement, in the midst of a particular case where it appeared as if the DA was manipulating the system and ignoring court orders to push forward with charges. Critics called Garza favorable to criminals in a case where a bus driver high on prescription drugs ended up killing a cyclist with her vehicle. She avoided jail time by pleading down to negligent homicide. The family of Doug Kantor (who died in June 2021 from gang fight crossfire) complained that Jose Garza took prosecutors off the case and delayed proceedings because prosecuting the assailants involved would be too politically inconvenient for him. Finally there was that time a Texas man convicted of attacking several women got ten years of probation. A punishment that at least one of the female victims said was "easy."
A group of stories that all-in-all highlight how fragile community cohesion had become under Garza’s leadership. Austin police felt frustrated enough that they pointed the finger at the district attorney for inaction. The local news people over at KXAN sat down and looked at the numbers. Under the tenure of Garza in 2021 and 2022, 12,700 felony charges were dropped. This was an uptick from Garza’s predecessors who only dropped 10,400 between 2018 and 2019.
DA Garza disputed the numbers as being fallout from the COVID pandemic of 2020 and changes in how data was collected (and in this case I’d argue that the story is an interesting read).
When it came to the trial of Uber driver Daniel Perry over the death of an armed Austin BLM protester in 2020, he had been found guilty of murder by a jury. However, DA Garza got into a public feud with Governor Greg Abbott over the idea of pardoning Mr. Perry. Eventually, Garza asked the Board of Pardons to meet with the victim's family in the Daniel Perry case before making their recommendation.
Alvin Bragg (Manhattan, New York)
Alvin Bragg beat out the competition in a hotly-contested race. But it was also done with the preset condition that Mr. Bragg would be looking into Donald Trump and the Trump family businesses. "Soros also donated $1 million to Alvin Bragg’s successful DA campaign in Manhattan, funneling the cash through the Color of Change political action committee, according to public filings," wrote the New York Post.
1.) (1/6/2022) (+ 1/6/2022) DA Bragg announces that he'd not prosecute a series of certain crimes, Per CNN: "marijuana misdemeanors, including selling more than three ounces; not paying public transportation fare; trespassing except a fourth degree stalking charge, resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration in certain cases, and prostitution." Misdemeanor offenses were given the chance to go into diversion programs, or even be declined prosecution entirely. The excuse given by the DA's office was to conserve manpower and resources.
2.) (1/8/2022) There were four other district attorneys in New York City. None of them were fans of how Alvin Bragg was handling Manhattan. The DAs for Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island, and Brooklyn all had various cold shoulder reactions to the policy memo put out by Bragg's office. (+ 1/8/2022) The fact that Bragg's memo told prosecutors to "avoid seeking jail or prison time for all but the most serious crimes" angered the new Police Commissioner. Enough that she felt to publicly tell everyone in the NYPD about it, and she informed them to expect a blowout in the near future. (+ 1/15/2022) The controversial memo put out by Bragg's office caused at least nine lawyers to quit. Among them was a loss of talent including one lady who helped prosecute Harvey Weinstein. Given the context of the rest of my Substack essay, I should point out the distinction is made between quit and fired.
3.) (2/10/2022) Repeated and habitual criminal held on bond after allegedly assaulting a city employee. The case made headlines because the Manhattan DA had just previously downgraded the felony robbery charges that this same suspect was facing the month prior. The rap sheet of the preparator was long and colorful. But best summed up as: "19 open cases, 14 failure to appears and 10 active bench warrants" per the New York Post.
4.) (6/12/2022) Nearly 1600 officers had left the NYPD by mid-2022, and the tensions surrounding that were accelerated by the spike in crime NYC had been seeing. More officers leaving + rising crime rates is something that feeds into itself. The article talking about this issue mentions how it makes it incredibly difficult to get new officers to join the police force. On top of that, then there were hostilities about the politicians felt about cops. At the time of the article, City Council voted against a bill that would've increased pension benefits for the NYPD's longest serving members. Alvin Bragg made this entire situation even more difficult with his so-called "bail reform" program that made arrests seemingly pointless, with repeat criminals being dumped back onto the streets.
Alvin Bragg is in the center of current events given his office's actions against former President Trump. When all of that became a heated matter of public concern, Color of Change told CNBC they ended up using $500,000 to back Bragg.
It didn't help matters any that Bragg's number-two person, Meg Reiss, was openly spewing ideological beliefs as to what prosecutors can do when carrying out the law. Meg believed that the amount of discretion from prosecutors was vast enough to include ideological leanings.
The charging of Trump in a situation involving Stormy Daniels caused the New York Post to collectively label DA Bragg as a biased party. But the New York Times showed that the district attorney dumped more time into it than he cared to admit.
The House Judiciary Committee took interest in the case and subpoenaed Bragg for details about a former prosecutor (Mark Pomerantz) in that office who also had looked into President Trump. Rep. Jim Jordan said that the DA’s efforts appeared politically motivated. Regardless, the dispute was short-lived as both Bragg's side and Jordan's side came to an agreement regarding the committee's interests in reviewing the matter.
Bragg had plenty of Trump people to play with in his own proceedings, given how New York Attorney General Letitia James had grilled certain names in civil matters taken up beforehand.
Trump eventually agreed to a video deposition in the case. There was a gag order on privileged information, but he was otherwise free to discuss aspects of it that were already public.
Alvin Bragg took specific interest in the death of Jordan Neely, who died after a chokehold incident on the subway. A civil rights attorney accused Bragg of playing the race card with how police let Daniel Penny first go without charges, until the DA filed them on his own later on.
Bragg even dabbled with Epstein lawsuits, at least insofar as having to help JPMorgan Chase better understand what exactly their company was up against in terms of litigation.
Kim Foxx (Cook County, Illinois)
Ol' George gave $2 million in insurance that Kim Foxx would be re-elected. It happened through a transfer of cash to the Illinois Justice and Public Safety PAC.
1.) (8/10/2020) An analysis from the Chicago Tribune revealed how Kim Foxx was dropping cases involving felony charges over ten percent more often than her predecessor had done. Foxx didn't deny what the Tribune had found, but responded instead by saying her office shifted attention towards "violent" crimes by dismissing those against "low-level" offenders. The Tribune responded to Foxx's response by pointing out that even with violent crimes (homicide, sex crimes), Foxx's office was dropping more. (+ 6/30/2021) Kim Foxx took to a press conference to defend the elimination of cash bail. It came after the signing of a new state law that was set to ban the practice at the start of 2023. In the meantime leading up to that, Foxx tried arguing against critics of the move by claiming systems for finding guilt within the court of law were still being maintained. She also deflected the debate by bringing up mass shooting incidents, and complaining there was too much apparent "over-politicization." But all the same, Foxx expressed a level of awareness that the pushback against progressive prosecutors was mounting.
2.) (9/14/2020) Foxx announced a new bond policy that recommended "low-risk or non-violent" offenders be released on their own recognizance while awaiting trial. "Offenses that are eligible to be recommended for I-Bonds include criminal damage to property, possession of a controlled substance, and retail theft."
3.) (1/29/2021) The mayor of Oak Lawn blamed Kim Foxx for the death of a 12-year-old in a drunk driving crash incident. While the kid's family didn't want to make the situation "political," even they agreed that it was questionable that the suspect had been repeatedly let out on bond. (+ 9/11/2021) A Chicago police commander and a city alderman were publicly furious after Kim Foxx decided not to file charges in a case where a gunman shot and killed a 7-year-old girl. Police launched a manhunt to find the guy, and it took them a few weeks of investigation. But Kim Foxx's office released the guy without any charges. (+ 12/12/2021) Two men carried out a robbery at a luxury car dealership. They managed to steal $2 million of merchandise in the middle of the day while families were there shopping. "A city that I love and everybody loves to come to is going to be a desert if they don't stop this. We're going to have people moving out of this city—they're moving out now—that want to just be safe," the store owner told the press. He laid the blame onto former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Kim Foxx’s inaction.
4.) (8/11/2021) In the wake of police office Ella French's death, Kim Foxx said people shouldn't have pretended they had the foresight to know that letting repeat offenders out on probation would cause them to kill cops. The president of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police called Foxx incompetent. (+ 10/4/2021) Former mayor Lightfoot shamed Kim Foxx for deciding against charges against five men who got into a shootout with a police. It was an incident of gang violence where one group tried luring out rivals, and cops were nearby observing much of the affair. But Foxx said the incident was too chaotic that it was impossible determine much of anything. (+ 3/5/2022) "I get real emotional when we talk about all the finger pointing," Kim Foxx said about people blaming her: he prosecutor of crimes in the city, who wasn't in fact prosecuting crimes in her city. The criticism was as to whether or not Foxx was routinely getting criminals to plea down, rather than the conviction rates. (+ 4/15/2022) Foxx had to face an online town hall as carjackings/shootings and other violent crimes had sharply risen in 2020 and 2021. The Cook County State's Attorney office defended their policy changes by asserting that with past leadership there were more wrongful convictions than anywhere else in the USA.
5.) (12/20/2021) A judge approves the release of a report by Special Prosecutor Dan Webb, examining the mismanagement of Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx in overseeing the Jussie Smollett case. A key finding was that Smollett's 2019 charges were initially dismissed in exchange for a $10,000 bond/community service because prosecutors "wanted this guy of town" after the attention the "Empire" actor brought to the Leighton Criminal Court Building. Webb also concluded that Foxx had misled the media about the Smollett case in the aftermath of the initial decision to dismiss charges.
6.) (6/14/2022) Reports emerged that Kim Foxx slapped her husband during a fight, and that police were called to their home to address the matter. "Kimberly got mad about something that was posted on Facebook that he did," the husband told authorities.
Thankfully, America won't have to worry about Kim Foxx for too much longer.
Attorneys would rather resign than work for someone like Kim Foxx. More than 235 people since July 2021, and a group of four planned their exits within two weeks of each other in late 2022. Even Foxx's colleagues had to painfully articulate how, despite their personal love for her career, she was doing a terrible job as the district attorney,
Kim Foxx dropped an additional 10 sex abuse charges against R. Kelly, given the fact that he was already found guilty in a New York trial over charges of racketeering and sex trafficking. Foxx said it'd be too costly to pursue additional prosecution. One of the victims who was impacted by Foxx's decision called it a huge mistake.
In late April, Kim Foxx announced she wasn't seeking re-election. Progressives tried painting a favorable light on Foxx's career history, making her seem like she was some kind of far-left champion. But all the same, Foxx made it clear that she was annoyed how her biggest career highlight ended up being messing up the Jussie Smollett case.
The family of a 6-month-old victim who died from a car crash spit in the face of Foxx, as she only gave misdemeanors to the two teens who stole the car in the first place.
Steve Descano (Fairfax County, Virginia)
In their 2019 campaign, the Washington Post described Descano receiving "more than $50,000 in in-kind contributions from the Virginia Justice and Public Safety PAC.” Soros bucks were one of the biggest donors to Descano’s campaign. Opponents tried writing off such outsized donations as adversarial. Yet it mattered in deciding who won.
1.) (12/30/2020) Descano called for the Virginia General Assembly to ban mandatory minimum sentencings in plea deals. A push that was meant to further the likeminded sentencing policy agendas he had put in place by his own office. Descano also sought felonies for minor offenses to be brought down to misdemeanors whenever applicable. (+ 4/23/2021) The Washington Post editorial board felt the need to write a piece where they collectively warned Descano that he was making a huge mistake with how his office treated misdemeanor cases. The excuse by Descano was a matter of Virginia law, which said that prosecutors only really needed to handle felonies and certain appeals. Misdemeanors and below could really be done by police and judges on their own. But Descano's interpretation of that law caused a break in tradition that irked Northern Virginia, and placed the Commonwealth Attorney in bad crosshairs. (+ 4/6/2022) The Commonwealth Attorney launched a program aiming to expunge people's criminal records. It was for lower-level crimes only, and criminals with violent charges on their record were excluded. “Our hope is that we can bring closer the day when the color of skin, a person’s zip code and the amount of money in their bank account does not dictate their involvement in the legal system.” said Descano in a press release.
2.) (7/2/2021) Descano made headlines (in a bad way) after he fumbled disclosing evidence in a timely fashion amidst a high-profile police brutality case. It didn't cause a Brady violation nor was it enough for a full dismissal, since the trial itself was still over a year away at that point. (+ 3/17/2022) Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares criticized Descano for reducing charges in a case where the suspect stood accused of killing two homeless guys and shooting three other people. Local media discovered that the suspect had a lengthy criminal history dating back to 2009. "People who are charged in a crime have their own defense attorney. They don’t need the prosecutor to serve in that role. If you are not willing to do your job, step aside," said Miyares, in part.
3.) (7/14/2021) Descano's office announced the launch of a project aiming at collecting data as to whether or not court defendants received different treatment in the system based on their race/class/location of residence. For the next three years, this program will analyze how the court process treats people from the start-to-finish. The unveiling was touted as part of the progressive agenda that Descano ran for his election campaign.
4.) (9/20/2021) A Fairfax County judge told a girl who was sexually abused for years that “your government has failed you," because of Descano's plea deal with the offender. The girl was violated by a relative on a weekly basis for years, and the offender abused a second girl victim. Descano's office hid behind technicalities for the sentencing, as the indictments in question actually triggered life sentences but Descano's office "struck the language" from those during the litigation process. (+ 10/20/2021) Legal experts wrote an op-ed at the Heritage Foundation, shaming Descano for making a "sweetheart deal with [a] child molester." The two wrote the piece said the Commonwealth Attorney fit the label of a rogue prosecutor who failed to give proper justice for victims, and in the big picture of things came off as "pro-criminal."
5.) (10/7/2021) Fairfax County Sheriff's Office felt obligated to file a report against Descano and his chief deputy after the pair had a public meltdown at the courthouse. Descano didn't want to have to go through a security screening, something that staff at the courthouse were doing on everyone entering the building that day. Descano used the "do you know who i am?!?!" card, and had a hissy fit.
6.) (5/18/2022) Leaders of Planned Parenthood who had started protesting outside the homes of SCOTUS justices amid the overturn of Roe v. Wade, were connected as donors to Descano's campaign. In return Descano announced he wouldn't charge any woman getting an abortion. (+ 5/31/2022) Descano took a hardline stance on the position, enough that he wrote an op-ed for the New York Times. The Commonwealth Attorney believed it'd cause a tidalwave of "anti-women laws" across America and that Virginia was poised to be one of them because a Republican like Youngkin was in charge. Descano's writings got weird. “Officers would potentially be going through women’s trash cans to see if there are drugs or alcohol in their trash can; they can get search warrants for their emails and text messages to see their innermost thoughts.” (+ 6/2/2022) People continued to raise questions about Descano as he stayed hands-off from the mobs who had been habitually lingering outside the houses of SCOTUS justices amid the expected overturn of Roe v. Wade. It wasn't exactly legal for activists to intimidate the court over their decision-making. Justice Barrett and Justice Alito had houses in the Virginia state.
Descano continued to raise questions about his leadership.
He freed Kevin Alexander Lemus. A guy who was initially arrested on drug possession and gun charges. Later in the year he went on to kill someone. Descano's office tried to abscond from responsibility for the release of this person, yet the policies made it clear the fault laid on the commonwealth attorney's office.
In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Descano mocked the concept of election integrity. He labeled it a far-right scheme meant to suppress the rights of black and brown voters.
Descano argued that his office still for a time recommended detention more frequently than judges when they decided to demand someone be held. But eventually he deferred to not holding people based on the data his people had previously accumulated.
The victim an a sexual assault case filed a federal complaint against Steve Descano because his office missed a court mandated deadline. The suspect in the assault case managed to plea to amended charges as a result of the deadline missed by Descano's office. The complaint against Descano evolved into a full-blown lawsuit by the victim's family.
The way that Descano’s office handled child sex abuse cases was eventually questioned by even members of his own team.
Despite everything, Steve Descano felt as if he bested the controversies that stood in his path. Enough that he decided to run for re-election. For whatever reason, John Legend endorsed his campaign.
But the issues for Descano's track record spoke for themselves in the data: convictions have been way down, but several areas of crime were up in his jurisdiction. People questioned why less was getting done even though the commonwealth attorney had more resources.
An ethics complaint was filed against Descano because he and his senior staff used Signal to conduct official business. This meant it'd be impossible for Descano's office to comply with an official FOIA request if it were ever demanded. Descano hated police unions and called them out on Twitter as being in the way of his progressive agenda.
It took several years for Descano's office to take action in a case involving a mother, her three kids, and a near-fatal tragic minivan accident. But when the matter was finally looked at: it seemed as if Descano's office wasn't going to prosecute it to the fullest extent of the law. The victim’s father in that case said that Descano only pretended to be a great prosecutor but he was really a massive fraud. He added that it appeared as if Descano was taking things out on the rest of his family (who were the immediate victims) with the moves his office was making.
Buta Biberaj (Loudoun County, Virginia)
In November 2019, Biberaj won by roughing out with 2 more percent of the vote. We’d later find out that Soros jammed in $922,000 from his Justice and Public Safety PAC.
1.) (10/18/2021) The New York Post pointed out the hypocrisy of Biberaj running on an anti-incarceration agenda despite the then-ongoing clashes she was having with the dad arrested at a school board meeting. (+ 2/2/2022) The fact that Biberaj didn’t follow proper procedures against the teen in that case, which led to a rehearing, made many blame the commonwealth attorney when the teen avoided the sex offender registry.
2.) (11/15/2021) The cross-dressing teen pleaded no contest in court for sexually assaulting a girl at the Stone Bridge High School. Biberaj said she’d respect the process when it came to deciding sentencing, but complained about conservative media. “People have taken the narrative and done what they want with it instead of relying on the truth.”
3.) (2/10/2022) The Board of Supervisors was appalled to find out that Buta Biberaj hired a convicted sex offender to work as a paralegal. It was up to Biberaj's office to conduct a background check, contradicting the prosecutor's excuses. The sex offender himself spoke to the media, saying he was "kind of surprised" to be hired at all.
4.) (6/15/2022) Judge James Plowman removed Biberaj from a criminal case on the grounds that she “misled the public” in order to push through a plea deal. The offer the prosecutor made was a six-month arrangement that: didn’t include other burglary charges, watered down the suspect’s past criminal history, and inaccurately claimed that their crime spree happened within a matter of hours and not days.
Biberaj hasn’t exactly turned her career around since we’ve last checked in on her.
Thankfully the court system saw it was necessary to remove Biberaj off the appeal case for the Loudoun County School Board dad who was arrested. Her office had a history of screwing up cases.
Biberaj wasn't even liked by fellow Democrats. County Supervisor Kristen Umstattd accused the commonwealth attorney of misleading the public when it came to handling the release of suspected killer Stone Colburn. The way that happened was mismanagement surrounding competency hearings, the particular charges Colburn was held on, and technicalities. In a follow-up interview, Umstattd expressed concerns about how Biberaj treated domestic abuse cases.
The uncomfortable fact Biberaj had to contend with was that her office saw a higher turnover rate than what was experienced by those before her. The only response that the commonwealth attorney mustered was doing a “whataboutism” and asking about how other government departments faired.
It was revealed that Biberaj submitted FOIA requests for communications between county supervisors and her political opponents. While that seems like a controversial thing to do in of itself, the best other elected officials could think of asking of her was to reimburse the funds used for these requests.
When announcing her re-election bid, this topic came up. This is what Biberaj had to say in her own defense:
"There have been leaks from the Board of Supervisors for the last three years, and they’ve also made the determinations that they have facts they’ve never shared, data that they’ve never shared. Now I think the people of Loudoun County think they need to understand what is the information they’re relying on."
It was a decision that alienated Biberaj from Democrats serving as county supervisors, as this FOIA situation seemed to misuse government resources, all else aside.
Biberaj’s decision to defer misdemeanors caused further friction within the local government, with the commonwealth attorney surviving a vote that would’ve seen her office defunded.
Kim Gardner (St. Louis, Missouri)
In the heat of campaign season, Kim Gardner’s team brought in contributions of $190,750.73 (over the course of several days) from the Soros-backed Safety & Justice Committee PAC. Then she got re-elected in 2020! Somehow!
1.) (6/19/2019) Kim Gardner kept an "exclusion list" of police officers who aren't allowed to bring cases to her office. At this point in time she had added 22 names onto the blacklist, making it a total of 59. The reason being for these cops being added is because, reportedly, the officers made racist comments online. “After careful examination of the underlying bias contained in those social media posts, we have concluded that this bias would likely influence an officer’s ability to perform his or her duties in an unbiased manner,” said Gardner's office.
2.) (1/13/2020) Gardner sued the city under claims of "racially motivated conspiracy to deny the civil rights of racial minorities" amid her battle against the police department. The police union said this was a distraction meant to deflect from the fact the infamous circuit attorney was under investigation. (+ 9/30/2020) US District Judge John Ross dismissed Gardner's lawsuit, describing it as sounding like a conspiracy theory. He said it could "best be described as a conglomeration of unrelated claims and conclusory statements supported by very few facts, which do not plead any recognizable cause of action."
3.) (6/30/2020) Kim Gardner announced an investigation was launched into the McClousky couple: a gun-touting pair who went viral during the 2020 George Floyd protests for protecting their own home against rioters. “We must protect the right to peacefully protest, and any attempt to chill it through intimidation or threat of deadly force will not be tolerated,” Gardner’s office said in a statement. Fox News brings up how George Soros backed Kim Gardner's campaign for office back in 2016. The Safety and Justice Super PAC that the billionaire supported ran a political ad in her favor. (+ 12/10/2020) A judge dismissed Kim Gardner from the case involving the McCloskey couple because it was deemed inappropriate for the prosecutor to cite the case in campaign fundraising emails around the time she filed charges against the two. (+ 1/22/2021) Gradner lost a second challenge in the Missouri appeals court amid her efforts to overturn being removed from the McCloskey case. Her argument was the disqualification against Mark's charges shouldn't have been applied to Patricia, as well.
4.) (1/4/2021) SHOCKER. St. Louis saw one of their highest murder rate by the end of 2019. 262 people had been killed. Numbers this high weren’t seen since 1970. But despite this situation and the factors added by 2020's COVID pandemic and George Floyd protests, Kim Gardner got re-elected anyway. Her campaign advertised how jail was a "last resort" unless people presented an immediate public safety risk.
5.) (7/20/2021) Murder charges are dropped against suspect Brandon Campbell because Kim Gardner's office assigned a prosecutor who didn't show up to court. The attorney assigned to the case was on maternity leave and Gardner's people didn't bother replacing her. (+ 7/23/2021) We learn more about the Campbell case. Gardner's office assigned it to the attorney after she went on maternity leave. However, the electronic signature used by the prosecutor's office for her to sign off on things was still applied. In the Campbell case, there were upwards of three failures to appear at court hearings, and a court order to provide evidence to Campbell's defense attorney was left ignored. (+ 7/23/2021) In a separate case involving a man beaten to death near a transit station, the mother of the victim criticized Gardner's office as she found out that a plea deal was made with the suspect. What was expected by many to be a 20-year sentence ended up somehow being reduced an 8-year arrangement.
6.) (8/3/2021) Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner was discovered to have dropped felony cases at nearly double the average rate compared to before she took office. From 13.56 percent to 27.84 percent. A representative of the St. Louis Association of Police noted there was a further distinction to make out of the data. The fact that Gardner's office was filing less cases whatsoever needed to be considered, beyond the data showing the higher number of felony cases dropped.
7.) (9/26/2021) Kim Gardner's office continued to lose manpower. Back when she first took office she had over 60 prosecutors working for her, but by late 2021 that number dwindled to roughly 40. The report discussing this mentions how the departures meant lawyers with decades of experience were leaving. Those who were left had more work to do, less experience among them collectively, and became more prone to errors. Those who left Gardner's employment gave exit reviews which complained about poor management and lack of a cohesive leadership vision.
8.) (5/12/2022) An ethics panel recommended action against Kim Gardner for violating professional conduct rules with her investigation into former Missouri governor Eric Greitens. Gardner had charged Greitens in 2018 on privacy grounds for a blackmail scandal. The ethics panel said Gardner failed to turn over documents involving an interview with the victim in the case, and she failed to update court filings that Gardner herself knew contained inaccuracies.
Gardner is now gone from her job and so there's hope for a better future.
Kim Gardner wanted to get a new judge in the case that was brought to remove her from office on grounds of neglecting her duties. In the final days of her office she and those working beneath her failed to appear for several court dates, opening Gardner up to contempt of court charges.
It was the worst possible outcome for a Soros-backed prosecutor since these failures were made obvious in the courtroom. There was in fact an incredible prosecutor shortage that left roughly two-dozen prosecutors to handle thousands of cases.
Despite all that was going on with Gardner's office, she decided to enroll in an advanced nursing program anyway. The excuse given by her spokesperson was so that she'd stay current in her training that the circuit attorney first acquired years ago. People were asking if she was working towards a degree while ignoring her attorney job.
At the start of May 2023, Gardner announced her resignation. In a letter to Republican Governor Mike Parson, it was expected she'd step aside as soon as June 1st. But Gardner effectively gave her two-weeks notice as she stepped aside midway through the month.
The Missouri Attorney General blamed Gardner for turning St. Louis into hell-in-a-handbasket on her way out. A shooter was caught on video disrupting a Cinco de Mayo parade. But Gardner's office couldn't be bothered to charge the suspect, even going for a "lack of evidence" excuse. Dozens of families waited years for justice against those who wronged them. But Gardner couldn’t deliver.
While walking out the door, Gardner tried to vacate a murder conviction against a man who had been jailed for 33 years.
Conclusion
Roughly a year after my original thread on the subject, things are still bad. It’s unsurprising to see that an unchanged policy trajectory created more horror stories nationwide.
As for who I think is the worst of the worst? Foxx and Gardner had somewhat of a similar trajectory in terms of their choices of exit. I think Gardner is slightly more terrible in terms of immediate embarrassment about how she left office. Foxx handled the Smollett situation with outspoken regret, but at least that one incident is more in the past. No matter how huge of a blunder it was.
Any meaningful impact from progressive policies has yet to be seen. If there was any to exist at all. The only observable improvements from the district attorneys whatsoever can be chalked up to societal recovery from COVID and the riots of 2020. The glaring failures of progressive experiments are always more likely to outweigh any reflection on the results of policy changes. This attempt to try and achieve a "new" kind of improvement in cities (a theoretical and fictional second way of stable living) is largely impossible. You either have community cohesion or you don't.
That doesn't mean change is impossible. What it comes down to, in this case, is their approach being wrong. You can't carry on living collectively in the long-term as a jurisdiction if you foster divisive relationships between groups like the DAs office and police, etc.
So even in the most favorable terms, the grand experiment of George Soros ended up being miserable for everyone.