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Segment Producer: Jasmyne Cannick

On June 5, voters in Los Angeles County will select from 6 candidates the next District Attorney to replace Steve Cooley.  The District Attorney prosecutes felony and misdemeanor crimes, including decisions involving the death penalty, life, and life without the possibility of parole, that occur within the jurisdiction of Los Angeles County, the largest local prosecutor’s office in the United States.

According to California’s Public Policy Institute, African Americans are dramatically more likely to be imprisoned than are other groups.   Among adult men in 2010, African Americans were incarcerated at a rate of 5,525 per 100,000, compared to 1,146 for Latinos, 671 for non-Latino whites, and 43 for Asians. Among women, African Americans were incarcerated at a rate of 342 per 100,000, compared to 57 for Latinas, 66 for non-Latina whites, and 5 for Asians.

133 death judgments, or 49 percent of the L.A. County’s total, have been against black defendants.  The county has handed down 43 death judgments against black defendants for killing white victims and two death judgments against white defendants for killing black victims.  Black defendants, additionally, are serving 45 percent of the county’s life-without-parole sentences.

Monday, June 4, the candidates themselves will be on the Front Page to make their case to African American voters, but today, we here from some of Los Angeles’ most respected criminal defense attorneys–the lawyers who argue against the D.A. in what we as voters should be looking for in the next District Attorney.

NANA GYAMFI

A graduate of UCLA’s Law School, since 1994, Nana Gyamfi has been a criminal defense attorney.  In addition to being an attorney, Nana is a professor of Pan African Studies at Cal State Los Angeles.

Email: [email protected]

JAAYE PERSON-LYNN

At 29, Jaaye Person-Lynn is a graduate of Hampton University and Howard University School of Law. Currently, he works for the L.A. Public Defender’s Office.

Email: [email protected]

JAMON R. HICKS

Jamon R. Hicks practices law in the areas of civil litigation and criminal defense, representing plaintiffs in state and federal courts for the Cochran Firm. His civil litigation experience involves wrongful death, serious personal injury, and police misconduct cases. He also has litigated numerous felony and misdemeanor criminal cases such as attempted murder, assaults on peace officers, terrorist threats, driving under the influence, drug and gun possession matters.  Mr. Hicks received his undergraduate degree with honors from the University of California, Berkeley in 2001 and his J.D. from Loyola Law School in 2004.

Phone: (323) 931-6200

The post ELECTION 2012: What to look for in the next L.A. County District Attorney appeared first on Dominique DiPrima.