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My Prosecution Priorities: Victims, Guns, and Drunk Driving

By Mara W. Elliott, San Diego City Attorney

03/31/2022
in City Attorney News, Feature, Featured, Features, News
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My Prosecution Priorities: Victims, Guns, and Drunk Driving
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By focusing on three priorities – crimes involving victims, guns, and drunk driving – prosecutors in my Office stayed productive even while Covid shut down our courthouses.

Now that jury trials have resumed, the priorities we set for our Criminal Division pre-Covid seem almost prescient, given how America responded to the pandemic: Domestic violence rose, some gun crimes soared 60 percent in three years, and drunk-driving fatalities spiked to their highest level in 15 years.

Getting trial dates is still challenging due to the enormous backlog caused by Covid-related closures. For most of 2020, only significant cases and important felonies warranted court time. Things opened up a bit in 2021, but the backlog of cases kept growing: one Covid-related cancellation could still set back a case for six months.

Delays will still occur, but not because my Office isn’t prepared to prosecute. Our evidence is ready. Our witnesses are ready. And the stakes are as high as ever.

In setting our three priorities, Chief Prosecutor John Hemmerling and I chose the crimes that pose the greatest danger to innocent lives, especially children.

One of our concerns is with cases of Driving Under the Influence, or DUI, which can involve drugs, alcohol, or both. My Office, and others, have felt pressure to go easy on any driver whose Blood Alcohol Level is than 0.16 (twice the DUI standard of 0.08) as a way to lighten the court’s caseload. We’re saying no.

The difference between a 0.08 and a 0.15 BAC is significant. The National Highway Traffic Safety Council reports these are typical effects at 0.08: “Muscle coordination becomes poor (e.g., balance, speech, vision, reaction time, and hearing), harder to detect danger; judgment, self-control, reasoning, and memory are impaired.”

That’s dangerous enough, but as the Council reported, at a 0.15 BAC, the effects also include a “substantial impairment” in vehicle control and attention to driving, as well as a major loss of balance and occurrences of vomiting.

A second priority for our Office is standing up for victims of hate crimes, sex crimes, domestic violence, elder abuse, and child abuse. Without advocates, victims can get lost in the criminal justice system.

Though Covid created challenges, our Domestic Violence and Sex Crimes Unit continued its work to bring abusers to justice.

Yet the trend toward lighter sentences and diversion programs – accelerated by reasonable fears that incarceration would lead to Covid – is having an impact on the prosecution of these crimes, even domestic violence cases involving strangulation. I believe that any domestic abuse that includes strangulation – a deadly weapon used to terrorize and control victims – warrants jail time. According to the San Diego-based Training Institute on Strangulation Prevention, a woman who has suffered a nonfatal strangulation incident with her intimate partner is 750% more likely to be killed by the same person with a gun. In addition, I’m sponsoring state legislation by Assemblymember Brian Maeinschein that will require jail time for abusers who violate protective orders by trespassing in a victim’s house. This invasion of personal space and privacy, often accompanied by ransacking and theft, creates a special type of terror for victims and their children.

Our third priority is gun crimes, and I’m pleased that Covid had no impact on my Office’s ability to obtain Gun Violence Restraining Orders to protect the public. The Superior Court made special accommodations for GVROs because they prevent bloodshed and save lives, and we’ve obtained hundreds since Covid emerged.

GVROs are one way to remove guns from bad situations. My Office has sponsored legislation (again with Assemblymember Maienschein) that will expand the list of those who are banned from owning guns to include misdemeanor child abuse and elder abuse.

Our Office receives as many as 20,000 misdemeanor cases a year, and we strive for justice in each. By prioritizing victims, guns, and drunk driving, we believe we can provide the greatest service to the community even in difficult times.

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Volume 4, Issue 9, February 2023

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What started as a personal social media project vi What started as a personal social media project via Instagram during the pandemic, Hillcrest San Diego has become a 10K subscriber resource for news, history, memes, and all things Hillcrest. We caught up with Rick Cervantes the force behind the account to get to know more about the motivation behind it, the plans for the Instagram account and the upcoming inaugural #hillcrestsandiego Honors with its reception schedule for Monday February 6 at Uptown tavern to honor local community members and organizations.
Read the full Interview on the link below
http://ow.ly/OJ9k50MIEBZ
Our community has been built on the need for resou Our community has been built on the need for resources and support, and sectors in our community have also been called to create organizations that enrich and serve their own specific needs. One such organization is the San Diego LGBTQ Coalition.  Read full article on the link below
https://lgbtqsd.news/san-diego-black-lgbtq-coalition-a-stronger-front-for-the-betterment-of-the-community/
Read all our February Issue Articles on our websit Read all our February Issue Articles on our website!
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our on our Digital edition courtesy of issuu!
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They are fresh off the press! They are fresh off the press!
The February Issue is OUT Today! Pick up a copy a The February Issue is OUT Today! 
Pick up a copy around town!
We are Welcoming February with a NEW Issue! We are Welcoming February with a NEW Issue!
Black History Includes Black LGBTQ History! Black History Includes Black LGBTQ History!
Are you thinking about having work done on your ho Are you thinking about having work done on your home that will cost more than $500 in labor and materials? If so, you should take precautions before hiring a contractor. Any person providing home improvements or repairs above the $500 handyman exception is required to have a state issued license from the Contractors State License Board (CSLB). Read more on the link below 

https://lgbtqsd.news/dont-fall-victim-to-unscrupulous-contractors/
San Diego Foundation has opened its Common Scholar San Diego Foundation has opened its Common Scholarship Application with $3.5 million in scholarships available for local college students. Students can apply at SDFoundation through March 8, 2023. Get all the details on the link below.

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