YGBKM: Soros DA facing recall laments that victims’ families don’t appreciate her “restorative-justice” efforts

Pamela Price normally doesn’t give interviews — and we now know why. The progressive DA in California’s Alameda County has angered voters with her refusal to crack down on crime and to assist the families of victims. That fury has led to a recall effort, which just launched this week after just six months of Price’s tenure as the county’s top prosecutor.

Facing the potential of a humiliating exit from office not all that long after fellow Soros-funded DA Chesa Boudin got the boot across the bay, Price agreed to an interview with KPIX. Needless to say, her response to the families of victims won’t dial down the fury. Even KPIX noted that the conversation “didn’t go quite as expected” (via Jerry Wilson at RedState):

Rather than offer some sort of support for victims and their families, Price blamed them for not giving her credit for pursuing her agenda:

YU: Family members of victims are saying that the decisions you have made are unfair to them, that sentences that criminals have been given are excessively lenient, and the perpetrators are favored over victims. What’s your response to that?

PRICE: I feel … definitely my heart goes out to the people who have lost loved ones in this community. Who is … we at the District Attorney’s office are very very committed to making sure that we’re providing the best services. Some people are … are not able to actually appreciate the work that we do.

Actually, Price’s heart keeps going out to the criminals rather than the victims. Jazz wrote in March about a case in which a judge rebuked Price for cutting a sweetheart deal with a triple-murderer for hire. She didn’t learn much in the meantime. A month ago, Price refused to charge a 17-year-old shooter as an adult for a road-rage murder, even though police consider him a person of interest in two other murders and was first taken into custody for unrelated gun charges. That infuriated the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office, which took the unusual step of criticizing Price on its official Facebook page:

Morales-Jacquez was charged with Asuncion’s murder in November 2022. Due to Morales-Jacquez’s extensive and violent criminal history in multiple jurisdictions, a petition was submitted to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office to have Morales-Jacquez charged as an adult. Unfortunately, that petition was denied, and Morales-Jacquez was charged as a juvenile for the murder of Asuncion in March 2023.

Juvenile offenders are held at the Juvenile Justice Center up to the age of 25. Morales-Jacquez, now 18 years old, was sentenced to seven years (but could be afforded probation sooner) for the senseless death of Rienheart Asuncion.

Does anyone wonder whether Price believes in stronger gun-control legislation? Want to guess who she’d prosecute with those new laws? Hint: it wouldn’t be those who commit crimes otherwise.

Before you answer that question, take a look at another case in which Price dialed down charges in a murder case involving a firearm and felons. In May, the parents of homicide victim Blake Mohs went public with demands that Price charge the murderer properly for the shooting at a Home Depot:

“My son was only 26, he didn’t even see the gun, he didn’t have any idea,” Blake’s mother Lorie Mohs told KPIX. “He was doing his job, and it was over, he was back in the store safe. This woman came back for him. How is that not intent?” …

“[Knapps] is facing murder charges, and something called Little Gun, which means 5 years,” Mohs said. “It’s not robbery, it’s not intent to rob, and there are no special circumstances or enhancements being added at all, and we were told by the DA that is on our case that we should expect none, because it is the policy of Pamela Price to not add enhancements or special circumstances. It doesn’t make any logical sense in my heart, in my space or anything.”

Now Price is lamenting that the Asuncions and the Mohses, along with families seeing similar refusals to fully prosecute predators, don’t show her enough appreciation. And then the interview got … weird:

Less than halfway into a 15-minute interview, Price’s PR person Patti Lee pressed this reporter to ask about Price’s accomplishments.

“I’m sorry to interrupt. I don’t think you asked about the achievements of the first six months,” Lee said.

When asked what metrics Price is using to gauge her success, the district attorney replied that the office needs to establish them.

It’s not too often you see a PR flack walk their boss right into a faceplant. No doubt the reporter expected to get a preplanned answer to that question, only to discover that Price had no argument for her achievements ready. Just to be clear, one of the first tasks of leadership is to set goals and then create the metrics by which to measure progress. Those metrics should have been identified and set up already, and after six months, some measures should already be available.

That might explain the premature end of the interview:

Lee pushed to wrap up our interview before our allotted time was up.

After this reporter said, “I hope that, moving forward, we will have more access to you,” Price responded “I doubt it, quite frankly” and laughed. She stated that it was because she is busy.

Busy doing what? Not her job, clearly. Her job is to represent the people of Alameda County and get them justice for crimes committed in their jurisdiction. While prosecutorial discretion does exist, it exists for the purpose of justice for the entire community of Alameda County, not just Price’s preferred segments of it. This is dereliction of duty, and worse, it’s an illegitimate arrogation of legislative authority in the refusal to enforce duly enacted statutes. That’s the reason that Ron DeSantis took the authority granted governors in Florida’s state constitution to remove activist DAs that refused to enforce the law as it exists rather than as they prefer.

California doesn’t give its governor that authority, and even if it did, Gavin Newsom would never use it. The people of Alameda County need to do what San Franciscans did with Chesa Boudin and send Price packing.

Be sure to read all of Jerry’s RedState post, too. He’s been following the Price disgrace for a while, and has some excellent background on her disastrous performance.