Los Angeles County District Attorney. Steve Cooley rejects criticism that his office rejects most criminal filings against Los Angeles police and sheriff’s deputies, saying he would not “prosecute cases to please the public,” according to the Los Angeles Times. Critics said a report by Merrick J. Bobb, special counsel to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, showed a double standard by the prosecutor. “When it’s an ordinary citizen, the philosophy is let the jury decide and when it’s a police officer, the philosophy is let [Assistant Dist. Atty.] Curt Hazell decide,” said Gigi Gordon, a defense attorney who represents alleged victims of police corruption. “And what is he deciding? He is deciding whether they are going to look good. That’s a political decision.”
Bobb found that Cooley had accepted 25 percent of the criminal cases the police and sheriff’s departments presented in 2004 against their own officers. In contrast, the office in 2002 prosecuted 75 percent of the general cases investigated by those departments. Cooley said: “Those accused of crimes – be it civilian or law enforcement officer – have a right to a fair and independent evaluation of the evidence by a public prosecutor who will make a filing decision based solely on the evidence and not on public opinion.”
Link: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-monitor15sep15,1,4775010.story?coll=la-headlines-california