Bertha Cachu could barely contain her joy on the morning of May 10 as she spoke with her son by phone. Both had just attended his hearing at the Michael Antonovich Antelope Valley Courthouse, and Andrew Cachu was calling her from the courthouse lockup.
His mother quickly relayed some exciting news to Cachu, a gang member who was just two months shy of his 18th birthday in March 2015 when he shot 41-year-old Louis Amela twice in the back outside a Palmdale restaurant, killing him. Because of the gravity of the crime, Cachu was tried in adult court and, in 2017, sentenced to 50 years to life in prison.
Now, his mother told him, a powerful ally had agreed to intervene on his behalf. That confidante was Alisa Blair, a special assistant to Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, whose sweeping social justice directives have turned Southern California jurisprudence on its head.
“Girl, I got you.”
“That’s Gascón’s special adviser,” Bertha Cachu explained to her son in a 20-minute recorded phone call obtained by the Southern California News Group. “Oh my God! She’s going to be coming in your case. Did you hear that, man? She’s good. She’s the one I’ve been emailing back and forth.
“You need to be grateful that God has your back, Andrew. God has your back.”