President’s Update – 09/17/15

In early February this year, shortly after our Membership overwhelming voted to disaffiliate from AFSCME, the Board of Directors engaged in a brutally frank strategic planning conference.  Among other key decisions, the Board decided that it was time to re-invent/re-brand our Association. Rather than continuing with the same failed labor-management relationship with both the County and District Attorney management that could be characterized as “adversarial to the extreme,” a decision was made: to the extent practical—we would attempt to work in a productive and collaborative manner with the District Attorney and the County. As a result of this sea-change decision, we were able to achieve unprecedented progress at the bargaining table with both the DA Administration and the CAO [Chief Administrative Office] management.  This, of course, resulted in a contract that was subsequently ratified by 96.99% of the Membership. On Tuesday, September 15, 2015, the ADDA’s Contract Negotiation Team met for a pleasant lunch with DA Jackie Lacey herself and two of the key members of her negotiation team. Trying to hold a casual summit meeting in the past would have been unthinkable.  In short, this is yet another example that the new ADDA approach to conducting Membership business has radically changed and is already paying constructive dividends.
  • Also on Tuesday, the ADDA Board met with several elected California District Attorneys to learn of a proposed new citizens’ initiative involving the death penalty.Much more will be coming your way in the near future regarding this important topic through separate messages.
  • Finally, later that same evening ADDA Board Members and staff joined many of you and numerous members of the law enforcement community at Law Enforcement Night at Dodgers Stadium.  As the chief law enforcement officer of Los Angeles County, Jackie Lacey threw a beautiful pitch straight and over the plate!  We are reliably informed that Jackie’s successful effort was the product of weeks of practice with her coach, Gina Satriana.
  • Thursday, the Board’s Bylaw Review Committee met to consider additional adjustments to our exiting governing document.We hope to be able to present the final product to the Membership for adoption in the near future, and shortly thereafter to hold an election for the Board of Directors.
  • Next week, two more items of critical Membership business will be addressed.First, on Tuesdaythe Board of Supervisors should be adopting our new Memorandum of Understanding so that on10/30/15 you will see the 3% increase effective 10/1/15.   And second, at its regular September meeting, the Board of Directors will review the results of the 2014 audit conducted by Rita Villa, CPA.
Marc Debbaudt President ADDA

Public Safety Community Applauds the Rejection SB 443

The public safety community in California is pleased with the defeat yesterday of Senate Bill 443 by Senator Holly Mitchell, a bill that would have impeded the ability of law enforcement agencies to go after drug kingpins. In response to the defeat of SB 443, Marc Debbaudt, President of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys, issued the following statement:

“The legislation would have denied every law enforcement agency in California direct receipt of any forfeited assets. California’s asset forfeiture law would have been changed for the worse and this dangerous piece of legislation would have crippled the ability of law enforcement to forfeit assets from drug dealers, especially now, when current laws make arrest and incarceration an incomplete strategy for combating drug trafficking. Narcotics investigations are costly, and the California asset forfeiture law’s dedication of forfeiture proceeds to the seizing law enforcement agencies supplements their serious resource needs when they pursue drug traffickers and their ill gotten gains. SB 443 would have undermined one of the most important tools used to combat complex transnational criminal enterprises.

“After the passage of Proposition 47 and Criminal Justice Realignment, incarceration is NOT a deterrent to narcotics trafficking. To drug dealers, custody time is looked at as a minimal “cost of doing business.” If drug assets are still available to dealers upon release, they go back to the business of selling narcotics. In more sophisticated operations, the drug dealer facing time in custody is merely a foot soldier for the bigger fish to whom the assets actually belong. Passage of the bill would have caused a severe public safety threat – it would have been a license to expand for drug cartels and narcotics trafficking on all levels, endangering our communities and schools.

“I am pleased to see the unified effort of public safety labor and management groups throughout the state who came together to defeat this dangerous bill. Public Safety advocates representing the Association Of Deputy District Attorneys; Association For Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs; California Association Of Code Enforcement Officers; California College & University Police Chiefs Association; California Narcotic Officers Association; Los Angeles Police Protective League; Riverside Sheriffs’ Association, Cal. Chiefs, and many other groups worked tirelessly to educate elected officials regarding this dangerous piece of legislation.”

If you have friends who would like to receive future ADDA press releases, blogs or our popular Monday Morning Memo, please click here. The Association of Deputy District Attorneys (ADDA) is the collective bargaining agent and represents nearly 1,000 Deputy District Attorneys who work for the County of Los Angeles.

What Realignment Has Done to Restitution Collection and How It Can Be Fixed

By Lydia Bodin

In October of 2011, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. signed Assembly Bills 109 and 117 that created Public Safety Realignment.  Prosecutors are very familiar with the effect and influence of realignment on sentencing and incarceration but are, perhaps, less familiar with the unintentional collateral consequence that made restitution collection impossible at the county level for offenders who are now both supervised and incarcerated locally.

Before the Public Safety Realignment, restitution was and continues to be collected by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and local probation departments. Well-defined collection and distribution systems that were and remain statutorily authorized are in place to ensure that victims could collect on court ordered restitution.  Unfortunately, following realignment, newly created classes of convicted individuals locally supervised and incarcerated were not made subject to any complementary statutory authority to collect restitution.

Many victims in this county are currently not receiving the restitution to which they are entitled because this county has not yet established a collection mechanism that has responded to the negative changes Realignment has brought to the collection of restitution.  As of January 1, 2015, the law fully supported the collection of restitution at the county level from Realignment created classes of convicted individuals.  Our county must now rise to the challenge of collecting restitution in the post-Realignment environment. Article 1, section 28 of the California Constitution gives victims the right to restitution.  In order for that right to be a reality, it is imperative that collection now begin from individuals sentenced pursuant to Penal Code section 1170(h); on mandatory supervision; and, on post-release community supervision.  It should be noted that if these individuals were in state prison as they used to be, they would be subject to restitution collection at the level of 50% from all deposits into their inmate wage and trust accounts.

The following convicted individuals may now be made subject to restitution collection at the county level:

  • County prisoners sentenced pursuant to Penal Code section 1170(h)(A) who serve their time on a blended sentence or who serve their full term in county jail and who are released with no supervision currently could be subject to collection from their inmate wage and trust accounts for up to 50% of each deposit.  Unfortunately there is no agency or mechanism set up to collect in this county.  Penal Code section 2085.5 allows a county board of supervisors to appoint an agency or the Sheriff to collect from inmates in county jail.
  • County prisoners sentenced pursuant to Penal Code section 1170(h)(B) who are on a so-called split sentence and released into the community under the mandatory supervision of  the Probation Department can be subject to statutory authorized collection as of January 1, 2015 pursuant to Penal Code 2085.6. Collection is based upon an ability to pay as determined by the Probation Department.
  • State prisoners who are now on post release community supervision pursuant to Penal Code section 3451 are under the supervision of Probation and will can be subject to statutory authorized collection as of January 1, 2015 pursuant to the newly created Penal Code 2085.6.  Collection is based upon an ability to pay as determined by the Probation Department.

Pursuant to statute, a county board of supervisors must determine who is the collecting agency or agencies in a county.  Once that initial threshold decision is made, counties can establish collection mechanisms and can then collect and distribute restitution.  In this county, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors authorized a working group in November of 2014 to make recommendations to them through the Countywide Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee for the purpose of establishing a restitution collection system in this county.  The committee is chaired by the Office of the Los Angeles District Attorney.  Work has been ongoing for the last eight months to establish a multi-agency integrated system that will collect and distribute restitution in this county from convicted populations created by Public Safety Realignment. The committee is a multi-agency taskforce comprised of the Sheriff; the District Attorney; Public Defender; Probation; the Treasurer-Tax Collector, the Internal Services Division; and, the Auditor Controller.

Prosecutors are keenly aware of the toll that crime takes on victims.  Crime is not just a violation of a law – it is frequently a devastating financial event for many victims.  Recently, I got a call from a woman whose family business had been deeply harmed through the loss of $100,000.00 in embezzled money.  I had to tell her that the defendant, an individual who this woman had assisted and allowed to live in her home, was in county jail on an 1170(h) sentence and that currently there was no collection mechanism in this county.  Several months ago an elderly gentleman asked me if I could get even just a nickel because he wanted to know that the defendant was paying at least something. This same conversation with victims is currently repeated multiple times a day by personnel in the Restitution Enhancement Program.  Victims are consistently incensed and angered by the fact that they cannot get their restitution. Most sadly, their confidence in the justice system is failing.

Absent collection from supervised and incarcerated individuals, victims are left to obtain justice in civil courts by executing the restitution judgment in that arena.  Victims are ill equipped to champion their own restitution collection.  In addition, a greater burden is placed on the civil courts to execute restitution judgments.  It just makes sense to create and strengthen restitution collection in this county.

On September 15, 2015, the Board of Supervisors will vote on the foundational aspects of a collection system in this county. These foundational components include who are the collectors and at what percentage level collection will occur from inmate wage and trust accounts.  Following this initial approval by the supervisors, many more months of work are ahead to establish protocols and a working system that will include county criminal justice partners.  With the approval of the Board of Supervisors to create a viable restitution collection and distribution system, victims will be better served and will have confidence in our ability to both protect and to obtain justice for them.

Lydia Bodin is a member of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys (ADDA) and is currently serving as the Deputy In Charge of the Restitution Enhancement Program and Abolish Chronic Truancy.  The ADDA is the collective bargaining agent that represents nearly 1,000 Deputy District Attorneys who work for the County of Los Angeles.

Increase In Attacks On Police Officers Should Be A National Wake-Up Call

Over the last several months, our nation has seen rhetorical attacks on police morphing into unprovoked ambushes and murders of police officers across the nation. In response, ADDA President Marc Debbaudt issued the following statement:

“The spike in unprovoked ambushes and murders on police officers across the nation demands further public attention.  While a handful of leaders including President Obama and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti have spoken out about this issue, where is a sustained public outcry?  A successful police department is a department that not only protects its community, but is also supported by the community and elected officials.

The Association of Deputy District Attorneys calls on our public leaders and the public, to speak out against this disturbing spate of violence.  In our professional roles, we honor police officers who have been murdered in the line of duty by seeking justice for them and their families.  As Deputy District Attorneys, we don’t only honor the memory of the officers at the time of the crime but also seek justice after the trial and sentencing.  As prosecutors, our obligation continues years later, when the crime has faded from the headlines and the killers seek freedom.  We appear at the parole hearings of these killers to ensure the memory of the murdered officer remains vivid and alive, and that justice continues to be done for the families of the officers.

Public safety requires a strong two-way partnership. The ADDA calls on community leaders across the nation to speak out and make it clear that violence against law enforcement will never be tolerated. Those who threaten or bring violence against police officers threaten the safety and security of our own communities.”

If you have friends who would like to receive future ADDA press releases, blogs or our popular Monday Morning Memo, please click here.

The Association of Deputy District Attorneys (ADDA) is the collective bargaining agent and represents nearly 1,000 Deputy District Attorneys who work for the County of Los Angeles.

Coalition Letter Opposing Parole for Voltaire Williams

Coalition Letter Opposing Parole for Voltaire Williams (8-31-15)

 

August 31, 2015

Honorable Edmund G. Brown, Jr.
Governor of the State of California
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 915814

Dear Governor Brown:

The  Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, the Association of Deputy District Attorneys, the California College and University Police Chiefs Association, the California Correctional Supervisors Organization, the California Narcotic Officers Association and the Riverside Sheriffs Association all join with the Los Angeles Police Protective League in expressing our strongest opposition to the   finding of suitability and grant of parole to inmate Voltaire Williams (CDCR # E17796), who is serving a life sentence for his critical role in the assassination of LAPD Detective Thomas Williams in 1985.  Inmate Williams was a key participant in what has been described as one of the worst murder plots in Los Angeles history.

On Halloween night 1985 Detective Williams was picking up his young son from school.  As they were preparing to leave, Officer Williams was shot and killed when eight bullets from a fully automatic assault weapon struck him.  Detective Williams only had time to order his young son, Ryan, to duck, causing the other nine bullets to fly past him.  The Medal of Valor, the LAPD’s highest award for bravery, was given to Detective Williams posthumously for saving his son’s life at the cost of his own.

Inmate Voltaire Williams (no relation to Detective Williams), has admitted his profound role in the death of Detective Williams.   The assassination of Detective Williams began when he successfully arrested Daniel Steven Jenkins for a 1984 street robbery that escalated into a near-fatal hit on the victim of that robbery and ended with Detective Williams’ murder during the Jenkins robbery trial.  The plot was initially hatched to sabotage Jenkins’ robbery trial since Detective Williams was the lead investigator on the Jenkins robbery case.

The original plan was for Voltaire Williams to murder Detective Williams, but Williams elected to sub-contract the job to a friend, Aladron Hunter, to be the actual triggerman working under Voltaire Williams’ close supervision.  Ultimately Hunter declined to murder Detective Williams. Voltaire Williams attempted to persuade Hunter’s to change his mind, but to no avail, and Jenkins (who was on a low bail release from his robbery trial) ultimately murdered Detective Williams.  Immediately after the murder, Aladron Hunter informed the police and was ultimately a prosecution witness in both the trials of Voltaire Williams and Daniel Steven Jenkins.

Although Voltaire Williams had ample opportunity to inform law enforcement of the plot, he declined to do so “out of loyalty to Jenkins.”   All parties agreed that if Voltaire Williams had called police before the actual hit, it would have saved Detective Williams life.  His “loyalty” to Jenkins effectively sealed Detective Williams’ fate.

Although Detective Williams was the victim of this callous plot, he is only one victim.  In a very real sense, the target of this plot is the integrity of the entire criminal justice system.

We believe this parole grant jeopardizes public safety due to Voltaire Williams’ minimization of the true “execution” nature of the killing and his admission that he helped orchestrate and permitted these events to go forward out of a greater loyalty to Daniel Jenkins.

Moreover, the larger public policy implications of the release of persons who murder police officers are significant and should not be ignored when considering whether or not to release someone who has murdered a police officer. Simply put, such releases send a message that we do not value the lives of front-line officers on any serious level.  Daily, police officers confront situations where the possibility they will not return home at the end of the day is very real. Feasibly, the only protection – albeit a decidedly intangible protection – is awareness (on the part of the criminal) that if he murders a police officer he does so with certain knowledge that his own freedom will be forever forfeited.  This is a tenuous shield for an officer, but a shield nonetheless. The moment we begin releasing persons who participate in the murder of  peace officers in the line of duty will, in essence, begin the dissolution of even that most fragile of shields.

In closing, and as it pertains to Voltaire Williams, there is nothing he has presented that suggests any mitigating circumstances which would now make parole appropriate; he is still the key conspirator in the murder of Detective Williams and should not have been granted parole by the Board of Parole Hearings. Voltaire Williams’ release is not only unjustified given his individual circumstances, but from a larger policy perspective, this release constitutes an unreasonable risk of harm to all police officers who work our streets every day.

The Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, the California College and University Police Chiefs Association, the California Correctional Supervisors Organization, the California Narcotic Officers Association, and the Riverside Sheriffs Association all join  Los Angeles Police Protective League respectfully requesting this parole grant be reversed pursuant to Penal Code §3041.2.

Sincerely,

Tim Yaryan
Legislative Counsel
Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs
Association of Deputy District Attorneys
Riverside Sheriffs Association

John Lovell
Legislative Counsel
California College and University Police Chiefs Association
California Narcotic Officers Association
California Correctional Supervisors Organization

Cc:  Nancy McFadden, Executive Secretary to the Governor
June Clark, Deputy Legislative Secretary, Office of the Governor
Thomas Remy, Board of Parole Hearings/ Legal