Page 1
ADDA Files Grievance Against D.A. Gascón
By a MetNews Staff Writer
The Association of Deputy District Attorneys, a hybrid union and professional association, has filed a grievance with the County of Los Angeles contending that working conditions have been changed under District Attorney George Gascón, impermissibly, in the form of acquiescing in the contention of inmates seeking habeas corpus relief that there was prosecutorial misconduct without conferring with the accused deputies.
In a letter sent by email on Friday, John Rees, executive director of the ADDA, told county Chief Executive Officer Fesia Davenport:
“Through other than official channels, we have learned that the Office has impermissibly and stealthy modified the manner in which it deals with defense claims of prosecutorial misconduct. If what we have learned is correct, it is not merely unlawful—it is reprehensible.
“Accordingly, ADDA demands that management cease and desist and revert to the prior practice. If, in fact, what we have learned is correct, then it is expected that this Association will receive formal prior written notice of such intent together with a proposal. Once again, it appears as though none of the appropriate procedural bases were tagged by management. In the meantime, I expect to receive your timely written notification that management has complied with the law and the legitimate demands of this Association.
“I look forward to your early reply.”
The letter was sent to Davenport via Tim Pescatello, manager of the county’s Employee Relations Division.
Former Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley, a critic of Gascón, told the METNEWS yesterday:
“The ADDA is absolutely right to pursue this issue as a labor grievance, but, if this is true, those involved could be fairly accused of unprofessional and unethical conduct. Even conspiracy to obstruct justice is not out of the question.
“This is not the first time that Gascón and a few of his sycophant minions have attempted to achieve an improper goal ‘by any means necessary’.”
The ADDA has been at loggerheads with the new district attorney, who sworn in on Dec. 7, from the start. On his first day of office, Gascón issued a series of “special directives” aimed, in general, at securing leniency in sentencing.
On Feb. 8, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Chalfant “granted in large part,” as the judge put it, a preliminary injunctions sought by the ADDA, declaring that some of the directives are “unlawful.”
Copyright 2021, Metropolitan News Company