A Los Angeles jury awarded $1.5 million in damages March 6 to a former head prosecutor with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office—who alleged she was given a demotion after raising objections to DA George Gascón’s juvenile sentencing reform policies.
The week-long trial of Shawn Randolph was the first of nearly 20 such cases.
Randolph had been removed from her position as Head Deputy District Attorney overseeing all juvenile cases in early 2021 and was moved to the parole division—a “dead-end position for a head deputy,” according to her complaint filed in 2021.
Randolph’s objection to Gascón’s policies mainly focused on the latter’s directive to minimize the severity of any criminal charges filed against juveniles, regardless of the level of violence involved, according to the suit.
“In essence, plaintiff was directed not to file strike offenses against juveniles and this directive creates a false and misleading description to the court of the crimes that were actually committed,” the suit stated.
According to the suit, for example, if a juvenile robbed a victim at gunpoint, the prosecutor could not charge the juvenile for robbery—which is considered a strike offense—and instead, prosecutors were directed to file with a lighter crime such as assault by using force likely to cause great bodily injury.
Additionally, the suit stated that a prosecutor’s ability to file more severe charges can serve as a discouragement for the juvenile to commit further felonies as an adult because it will lead to his or her sentence being doubled.
Furthermore, Randolph continuously informed her superiors that the criminal charges brought against violent juvenile offenders under Gascon’s policies were not truthful and contravened the ethical and statutory obligations of prosecutors, the suit stated.
After the verdict, Randolph commented outside the courtroom that Gascón’s time as the head of the District Attorney’s Office has been “an epic failure of leadership.”
Beth Correia, one of Randolph’s lawyers, said the case “shined a light on what’s been happening in the DA’s Office.” She said her recommendation to other plaintiffs awaiting trial is to “hang tough.”
In their court papers, county attorneys stated that the transfer did not result in a demotion of Randolph and that she kept the same salary.
“Plaintiff has not sought or received any medical care or treatment for her purported emotional damages,” county attorneys argued. “Plaintiff remained a head deputy and maintained the same pay she received before her transfer. In addition, plaintiff has not and cannot show that she suffered embarrassment.”
Gascón had testified during the trial Feb. 22 that he did not single out Randolph for the transfer, and it was a regular personnel change made in the early period of his administration that involved over a dozen people.
