We were misled…
There was a story here claiming the County DA’s office was refusing to process petitions for re-sentencing under the provisions of Proposition 47, which reduced penalties for drug possession and other minor offenses.
We have since learned that the source for this assertion was, at best, exaggerating.
Since nothing ever truly goes away on the internet, we’ve left the headline up and hope to correct any false impressions that had been made.
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You have to wonder where Dumanis’ support is coming from. Sado-Masochists? Once her time runs out maybe she can get together with San Diego’s city attorney and form a personal-injury law firm specialising in defending Republicans who claim they’ve been abused by the voters.
I have absolutely no faith in Dumanis to do the right thing. Time and time again she has abused the powers of her office. Ask Tiny Do who she’s prosecuting for rap lyrics and any family whose members has been abused by the police. She needs to go!
The San Diego County District Attorney’s Office was ready to implement Prop 47 the day after it passed. We immediately changed the way we handle incoming cases for review, and we have already amended more than 1,196 criminal complaints for pending cases impacted by this new law. We worked with the Superior Court, Public Defender’s Office, the Sheriff and Probation Departments to develop a process to handle the potential 200,000 petitions we may receive from defendants who want their cases reviewed for resentencing. Already, more than 18,000 petitions have been filed, 3,658 have been reviewed and 1,872 petitions have been granted, the first of which was granted on November 6. It is a daunting task to review them as quickly as possible, but we’re working hard to honor the spirit and the letter of this new law. We created a countywide process to ensure each person’s petition receives the necessary legal review and our priority is reviewing the petitions from those individuals who are currently in local custody. The Public Defender’s Office is taking the lead, filing petitions on behalf of anyone currently serving a prison or jail sentence. Working together, as San Diego County always does, we are trying to make sure the cases of anyone affected by Prop 47 are being carefully reviewed. At the same time, we working to find creative solutions to engage people who commit new low-level offenses and get them into treatment options or our collaborative courts, rather than sending them to jail.
Steve Walker
Communications Director
San Diego County District Attorney
Nice spin there, Steve. Now go back to prosecuting rappers and letting cops get away with shooting and beating people.
Dear Steve,
Thank you for your reply. I realize now that the information I put forward was spun in a way that was not entirely accurate. The issue was that we had no accountability from Dumanis’ office that these petitions were being handled in a timely manner, and the limited accountability your comment has given is still not enough. How quickly will the rest of these petitions be handled? How can we ensure that Dumanis is processing them as swiflty as need be? I think we can all agree that a person now innocent of a felony under the law should not be kept in prison/jail for a second longer than is absolutely necessary. We apologize for putting forward information that was misleading and will be correcting our mistake accordingly.
Our other question is – why only 3600 out of 18000? At this rate, it will take more than 200 months to process the possible 200,000 petitions. We are pushing this letter writing campaign to ensure that this is a top priority for Dumanis’ office, ahead of other concerns such as punishing black men under penal code 182.5. We would like to see more resources dedicated to getting people out of prison rather than putting more in.
Also – I have information from the Public Defenders’ office that Dumanis’ office asked them to stop sending new petitions? Is this true? If so, it constitutes a refusal to deal with these petitions in a timely manner and is certainly an issue that should have full public accountability.
So, have 1,872 petitions actually been granted or has DA Dumanis refused to sign these petitions?
I’d like to see a fact check on these competing claims.
Hi Michael,
What we have from the D.A.’s office is the claim that 1872 petitions have been approved. Prior to the publishing of this article, that information was not readily available to my knowledge. We are retracting some of the statements made here as they have now come to light as inaccurate. Dumanis’ office is processing the petitions, they are just taking their time in doing so. According to Mark Jones, they have asked the Public Defenders’ office to stop sending them petitions. I am investigating this claim as well.