Page 1
Judge Rules Victims Lack Standing to Seek Recusal of District Attorney’s Office
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Christopher Smith has rebuffed the plea by family members of two slain females, who were half-sisters, to recuse the Office of Los Angeles County District Attorney in pending Juvenile Court proceedings against the alleged killer, now an adult, ruling that they lack standing to seek such relief.
The family members want Donato Cruikshank to be tried in adult criminal court, pointing out that he was slightly shy of his 18th birthday when the 2018 double-homicides of which he is accused were committed and that if he is found to have been the slayer and the disposition takes place in the Los Angeles Juvenile Court, he can only be incarcerated until he reaches the age of 25.
District Attorney George Gascón announced a blanket policy on Dec. 7, the day he was sworn into office, against any such removal of a proceeding against a person who was a minor at the time a crime was committed. He has since allowed for the possibility of exceptions, but whether an exception is to be made, according a motion filed by the family members, is a decision that has been entrusted to Alisa Blair, recently hired as a special advisor to Gascón.
Blair was, until Jan. 29, a Los Angeles County deputy public defender and, the motion sets forth, was the person who, while still a deputy public defender, drafted the “special directive” which proclaimed:
“The office will immediately END the practice of sending youth to the adult court system.
“a. All pending motions to transfer youth to adult court jurisdiction shall be withdrawn at the soonest available court date, including agreeing to defense counsel’s request to advance.”
Wording of Statute
Smith made his ruling on Wednesday. Late that day, the attorney for the family members, former Deputy District Attorney Kathleen Cady, told the METNEWS that she acknowledges the statute pertaining to a recusal of a District Attorney’s Office, Penal Code §1424, does not expressly confer standing on persons other than the defendant.
It provides that a recusal motion “may not be granted unless the evidence shows that a conflict of interest exists that would render it unlikely that the defendant would receive a fair trial.”
Cady said, however, that her “argument was that the recusal statute was enacted before Marsy’s Law was voted in,” noting:
“I relied on Marsy’s Law giving victims a right to justice and due process.”
Marsy’s Law—named after Marsalee Nicholas, a college student who was murdered on Nov. 30, 1983 by an ex-boyfriend—was enacted by voters on Nov. 4, 2009 as Proposition 9. It created the “Victims’ Bill of Rights” which provides standing to victims, which includes relative of slain persons, to be heard as to matters relating to sentencing or the release on parole of a person who has been convicted.
Logical Extension
The memorandum of points and authorities drafted by Cady, now of the law firm of Dordulian Law Group in Glendale, sets forth that in light of Marsy’s Law, standing under §1424 “should logically extend to the victims of violent crime” in seeking recusal of a prosecutorial office, reasoning:
“If a District Attorney suffers from a conflict, so extreme that they manifest a fundamental inability to be fair to a defendant, or a victim, the District Attorney should be disqualified.”
The memorandum says of Blair:
“She has also confirmed that she. in her role as Special Advisor to the District Attorney, not a sworn Deputy District Attorney representing the People of the State of California, is the person who decides whether a juvenile case qualifies for exception to the Youth Justice Policy….
“How can the victims and the public have confidence that the policy authored by Ms. Blair is being implemented fairly; with the respect and concern for victims’ rights; and with the public safety of the People of the State of California, and not just to benefit juveniles charged with committing crimes, in this case Minor Cruikshank[?]”
Meeting With Gascón
Cady recounted in her memorandum a meeting she and the slain females’ mother and respective fathers had on Jan. 4, via Zoom, with Gascón and his acting chief deputy, Joseph Iniguez, saying:
“During the call, they were asked about the policy which mandated only one count per incident and which daughter’s murder they would pursue, and which daughter’s murder they would dismiss. Both Gascon and his acting Chief Deputy looked perplexed and said that the policy didn’t say only one count per incident, indicating that both of them were unfamiliar with what is actually included in the policy issued on December 7.
“Neither Gascon nor his Chief Deputy would discuss his policy or whether he would make an exception to the blanket policy precluding transfer to adult court in this case. Iniguez told Ms. Cady that the meeting was not the appropriate format for such questions and said that he would contact Ms. Cady ‘offline’ to answer those questions.”
Cady posed questions to Gascón in an email she sent the following day and, she said, has received no response.
“Instead, last week the victims were informed that an exception would not be made to the policy,” she recited. “We were also informed that Ms. Blair was involved in that decision.”
Lawyer’s Comment
She commented in the memorandum:
“All of the above illustrates a shocking departure from a prosecutor’s sacrosanct obligation to ethically defend victims of violent crime. The impropriety of Mr. Gascon’s actions, therefore, cannot be overstated. We have a sitting District Attorney who actively colluded with an employee of the Public Defender’s Office to write and now implement policy which undermines the efficacy of prosecutions [of] serious and violent felonies committed by juveniles.”
Cady said Wednesday it is unknown at this time whether her clients will seek a writ to overturn Smith’s decision. She noted that she has shared her memorandum with colleagues and said “it’s possible” the issue she raised will come up in other cases.
The slain females were Sierra Brown, 16, and her half-sister Uniek Souvinette Akins, 27, who shared an apartment. Each was shot by a gun multiple times, and their premises was set on fire after the killings.
Cruikshank was a former boyfriend of Sierra Brown.
Copyright 2021, Metropolitan News Company