New rules issued by the Contra Costa County District Attorney asks police officers to ponder if looters needed the goods they stole before they are arrested and charged with looting, according to media reports.
Looting falls under Penal Code 463 PC and can be charged along with petty theft, grand theft or burglary. Punishment depends on what was stolen in most cases, as previously reported. For example, stealing baby formula will not be treated the same as stealing electronic goods.
“It’s part of this progressive left agenda to deconstruct our current legal structure,” said San Diego attorney Shawn McMillan.
Democratic Contra Costa County DA Diane Becton’s new charging guidelines for looting under PC 463 include the following consideration: “Was the theft committed for financial gain or personal need?”
But McMillan said the statute, as it is written, makes no mention of whether or not the accused looter needed the stolen property.
“How can an officer show in their arrest report that the defendant didn't need what they stole,” he said. “How will you show that as an arresting officer? How do you do that? It’s ridiculous.”
Becton is among a new breed of prosecuting attorneys along with Democratic Cook County, Illinois State’s Attorney Kim Foxx and Democratic St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner whose campaigns are allegedly funded by billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros.
“The leftist self-appointed policymakers do not want to follow the legislative process, which are the mechanisms we have in place as part of our social contract,” McMillan told the Southern California Record. “She's (Becton) abandoning the social contract, which is our legislative system.”
Because Becton is the county's district attorney, she has the right on an individual basis to dismiss cases under the doctrine of discretion.
“She has discretion about what she's going to do to prosecute people,” McMillan said. “She has attorneys under her that follow her commands so she can decide what she's going to charge and what she's not going to charge.”
Voting Becton out in an election is one way to remedy the situation, McMillan said.
“The remedy is going to be either a recall or bringing it up in the next election to challenge her,” said McMillan. “I don’t think there's any legal remedy that people can bring. They could maybe file a writ to get a court order to get her to do her job but that’s really stretching it.”
When Becton took over as district attorney in September 2017, it was widely reported that she changed the way the office was managed and how crimes were charged.
However, there are limits.
“I don't think that she can tell the police what to do because the police are part of the executive branch of enforcement,” McMillan said. “So, for example, it would be the mayor or whoever they answer to that would be directing the police, not the DA.”