Page 1
Barger, Cooley Blast DA’s Juvenile-Transfer Policy
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger and former District Attorney Steve Cooley yesterday lambasted a policy of the county’s current chief prosecutor, George Gascón, against moving for the transfer of cases from Juvenile Court to adult court, resulting in a 26-year-old woman avoiding prison despite having sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl.
The assailant, Hannah Tubbs, was two weeks short of her 18th birthday at the time she attacked the victim in a women’s lavatory at a Denny’s restaurant on New Year’s Eve in 2014. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mario Barrera yesterday ordered that Tubbs, a transsexual, be transferred to a youth treatment center for females.
Tubbs, who was described as a male at the time of the assault, previously went by the name of “James” and has been known by the nickname, “Shrink.”.
Supervisor’s Statement
Barger, whose district includes Lancaster where the attack took place, said:
“The outcome of the Tubbs case is unsatisfactory. Judge Barrera’s hands were tied today—due to the fact that the DA’s office failed to file a motion to transfer Tubbs to adult criminal court, which is where she rightly belongs. Instead, we’re left with a 26 year-old individual sentenced to two years in a juvenile facility in isolation, separated by sight and sound from the other juveniles.
“To carry out justice, all of the oars in the criminal justice system must be rowing in the same direction. Today, that simply didn’t happen.”
Cooley Comments
Barger’s statement drew this comment from former Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley:
“Supervisor Barger’s press release should have blamed and named DA George Gascón for the horrible result in this case. After all, it is Gascon’s policy as executed by his hand picked person (recent deputy public defender) to abandon the law, justice, and any semblance of caring for the child victim!”
He added:
“Supervisor Barger’s metaphor re ‘all of the oars in the criminal justice system must be rowing together’ is an understatement—-that boat has sunk!”
A lewd act on a child under the age of 14 is one of the offenses which can result in the perpetrator, if age 16 or 17 at the time the offense was committed, being shifted from Juvenile Court to the adult criminal court if the judge grants a transfer motion by the District Attorney’s Office. Gascón announced on Dec. 7, 2020, his first day in office:
“The office will immediately END the practice of sending youth to the adult court system.”
A well-financed effort is underway to gain signatures on a petition to force an election to recall Gascón.
Copyright 2022, Metropolitan News Company