A California judge this week blocked a newly elected progressive prosecutor’s effort to slash a triple murderer’s sentence.
Alameda County district judge Mark McCannon rejected District Attorney Pamela Price’s plea deal for a 31-year-old man jailed for a 2008 triple murder-for-hire, among other crimes. Price, who took office in November and has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from the progressive billionaire George Soros, attempted to sentence Delonzo Logwood to just 15 years in prison, though he was eligible for a sentence of 75 years to life.
"As I stated previously, even though these crimes occurred almost 15 years ago, our mission in the here and now is to stop the violence in our community," Price said in a statement after the judge’s decision. "We appreciate Mr. Logwood’s commitment to the efforts to stop the violence and everyone’s cooperation in the quest to protect public safety."
McCannon’s decision deals a blow to California’s billionaire-funded progressive overhaul of the criminal justice system. San Francisco voters last year ousted progressive district attorney Chesa Boudin because of his soft-on-crime policies.
Logwood has also been charged with carjacking and robbery, and allegedly murdered a court witness who was slated to testify against his step-brother, ABC News reported.
Price took $130,000 from Soros for her 2018 bid for district attorney, which she lost. She eked out a narrow win last November, touting herself as the first black district attorney for the court—even though her opponent was also black. During her campaign, Logwood pledged not to prosecute minors as adults. She offered Logwood—who was 18 at the time of his accused crimes—a plea deal in exchange for a guilty plea to one count of voluntary manslaughter.
Price’s plea deal drew fierce opposition from the mother of one of Logwood’s alleged victims, who wrote: "If he kills again, the blood will be on your hands. He’s going to kill again."
Oakland, Alameda’s biggest city, consistently ranks as one of the state’s most dangerous.
Price claims that reducing violent crime requires not prosecuting criminals but engaging "collaboratively with community-based organizations." She expressed support this week for President Joe Biden’s honoring of activist Bryan Stevenson, saying his effort "inspires us every day to ignore the very privileged Karens of the world & keep doing the work."
One of Price’s backers for her 2022 race was Smart Justice California, a group funded by Quinn Delaney—the wife of a wealthy San Francisco developer who helped bankroll Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon and Boudin—as well as the wives of Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, hedge fund billionaire James Simons and Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger.