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How One Progressive Prosecutor Paved the Way for an East Coast Shooting Spree
freebeacon ^ | March 29, 2022 | Josh Christenson

Posted on 03/29/2022 7:38:23 AM PDT by MarvinStinson

A gunman suspected of killing two homeless men and wounding others in two East Coast cities in March would have been in prison at the time of the shootings if not for the work of one progressive Virginia prosecutor.

The office of Fairfax County commonwealth's attorney Steve Descano (D.) in December 2020 charged the shooter, Gerald Brevard III, with three felonies related to his attempt to abduct a hotel housekeeper and later break into a nearby apartment. The felonies—abduction with attempt to defile, burglary, and possession of burglarious tools—together would carry a minimum of 26 years in prison and up to a life sentence.

But six months later in June 2021 Brevard was a free man. Descano's office reduced the first two felonies to misdemeanors, and dropped the third entirely, the case file shows, allowing him to leave prison after just five months. Less than a year later in March, Brevard opened fire on the first victim of his shooting spree. In the course of the nine-day spree, he is alleged to have killed two homeless men and wounded three others in Washington, D.C., and New York City.

The reduced charges Descano's office placed on Brevard were not the first in his criminal history—his rap sheet stretches back to at least 2010 and includes malicious destruction of property, drug possession, armed robbery, assault with a firearm, and assaulting a police officer. A policy memo that Descano distributed the day before Brevard's 2020 arrest urged assistant commonwealth's attorneys to seek misdemeanor charges over felonies whenever appropriate. And according to sources who spoke with the Washington Free Beacon, including former members of the commonwealth's attorney's office, such criminal justice reform policies promulgated by Descano allowed Brevard to evade justice.

Descano was among a coterie of left-wing prosecutors—along with Loudoun County's Buta Biberaj and Arlington County's Parisa Dehghani-Tafti—swept into office in 2019 by six-figure donations from George Soros. The Democratic megadonor's Justice and Public Safety PAC donated more than half-a-million dollars to Descano's campaign, helping him oust a 35-year veteran prosecutor in the Democratic primary before capturing office in deep-blue Fairfax County.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government
KEYWORDS: bidenvoters; progressive; prosecutor; wokeness
Police interviews with Brevard's abduction victim reveal he approached the housekeeper from behind when she was alone in a hallway, shoved her head into a wall, then covered her mouth and tried to drag her into an adjacent room. The victim was able to cry for help and escape after a short scuffle, suffering only minor injuries. She informed police she would be able to identify Brevard if she saw him again. Three weeks later, Brevard broke into a nearby apartment and was arrested.
1 posted on 03/29/2022 7:38:23 AM PDT by MarvinStinson
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To: MarvinStinson

Fairfax County, Va., commonwealth's attorney Steve Descano (D.)

2 posted on 03/29/2022 7:40:14 AM PDT by MarvinStinson
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To: MarvinStinson

the shooter, Gerald Brevard III

3 posted on 03/29/2022 7:42:11 AM PDT by MarvinStinson
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To: MarvinStinson

I truly believe the Left *wants* stuff like this to happen so that it gives them an excuse to push for more gun control, etc.


4 posted on 03/29/2022 7:42:12 AM PDT by Yashcheritsiy (I'd rather have one king 3000 miles away that 3000 kings one mile away)
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To: MarvinStinson

He just regrets that it was homeless guys instead of taxpaying citizens.


5 posted on 03/29/2022 7:43:22 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Depopulate the depopulationists. --FJB)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Rising crime rates impact the poor and lower income people much more than the well-to-do.


6 posted on 03/29/2022 7:47:19 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (Diana Moon Glampers for Secretary of Education! )
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To: Yashcheritsiy
I truly believe the Left *wants* stuff like this to happen so that it gives them an excuse to push for more gun control, etc.

Exactly.

7 posted on 03/29/2022 7:55:01 AM PDT by facedown (Armed in the Heartland)
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To: MarvinStinson

On the positive side this was a sincere case of trying to alleviate the ‘over-representation’ of minorities in our nation’s prison system. So Steve Descano at least deserves credit for trying.
/s


8 posted on 03/29/2022 8:32:06 AM PDT by hanamizu
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To: hanamizu

I think they are both member of BLM.....Bald Like Me...of course he would give him a reduced sentence.

You know those baldies, they all look alike.


9 posted on 03/29/2022 8:59:52 AM PDT by SteelPSUGOP
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To: MarvinStinson

democRATS...


10 posted on 03/29/2022 9:08:43 AM PDT by Chode (there is no fall back position, there's no rally point, there is no LZ... we're on our own. #FJB)
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To: Yashcheritsiy

Can any of the subsequent victims sue the Prosecutor???


11 posted on 03/29/2022 11:06:37 AM PDT by ridesthemiles
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