L.A. teen got a second chance from Gascón after killing. Now he is accused in a new homicide

Los Angeles Times ^ | June 21, 2024 Updated 8:05 AM PT | Richard Winton, James Queally

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón’s reform-minded outlook on juvenile justice seemed made for someone like Denmonne Lee.

When he was 16, Lee took part in an Antelope Valley gas station robbery that ended in the death of former Marine John Ruh. Lee, who was acquainted with the victim, had planned the 2018 robbery and provided a weapon to his co-defendant, according to court records. Although Lee wasn’t the shooter, he was charged with murder.

But when Gascón took office two years later, as Lee’s case was making its way through the court system, he barred prosecutors from trying juveniles as adults. Lee was convicted and ordered held at the county’s Secure Youth Treatment Facility in Sylmar until he turned 25.

Lee “responded very well” to programs in custody, authorities said. Within a year, probation officials moved him from the high-security Sylmar facility into a rehabilitation-focused setting in Malibu. After being released to a halfway house last June, Lee enrolled in community college and found work at a local nonprofit.

And then, in April, he was arrested and charged with playing a major role in another homicide.

The case has given Gascón’s critics an opportunity to directly link the progressive district attorney’s policies to a violent crime that some argue could have been prevented had Lee faced a stiffer penalty in adult court. Nathan Hochman, Gascón’s opponent as he seeks reelection in November, has spent significant time shouting out high-profile crimes that he contends are symptoms of the incumbent’s policies.

[Vaduz]

Los Angeles like most large cities are a kill zones growing.

[L.A.Justice]

being punished in Malibu....how awful....

There is a LA County Probation Department facility in Malibu...Yes, indeed...But, it is not very close to where rich people live...