Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón has resigned from the California District Attorneys Association, claiming the group’s all-White board indicates the group has failed to keep pace with changing times, reports Fox News. In a letter to the associations president, Gascon wrote that “The absence of a single person of color on CDAA’s 17-member board is blinding,” and that the all white leadership sets the standard for a group that disproportionately prosecutes communities of color in a diverse state while also only accommodating proponents of a tough on crime mentality. In January, Gascón became the target of a lawsuit filed by his own deputy DAs in Los Angeles County, The Association of Deputy District Attorneys of Los Angeles County, who alleged that Gascón’s order for them to forgo sentencing enhancements was a violation of state law, an action to be expected from a group that a history of opposing reform acts, The Appeal reported.
Gascon has denounced the state DA’s group for supporting the lawsuit against him, which announced on January 26 that it had filed an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit that the county deputy DAs filed against Gascón. Last week a Superior Court judge in Los Angeles temporarily blocked Gascón’s efforts to do away with some sentencing enhancements, including prosecutors’ option for seeking longer sentences for offenders under the state’s Three Strikes law. Gascón has argued that sentencing enhancements help increase recidivism. Gascón is now only one of two California district attorneys not participating as a member of the state DA group.