Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón is being criticized for his radical criminal justice “reform” policies after a convicted robber out of jail on a suspended sentence murdered the wife of a New Zealand CEO.
CBS News reported that Patricia McKay, 68, was killed when she and her husband, visiting from abroad, were robbed at gunpoint, and she was struck and killed by a car during the ensuring struggle, during which shots were fired:
The Los Angeles Times reported that one suspect, Leroyernest Joseph McCrary, 26, of Compton, was waking the streets freely despite a long criminal record and a conviction for robbery, due to probation and a suspended prison sentence:A 68-year-old woman visiting from New Zealand was walking with her husband just outside a Newport Beach mall when she was robbed and killed by three men, police said.
Patricia McKay was outside the Fashion Island mall shopping center, near Santa Rosa Drive and Newport Center Drive, around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday when two men approached her and her husband and tried to rob them — one of the suspects allegedly armed with a handgun, according to the Newport Beach Police Department.
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McKay was pronounced dead at the scene. Her body was found in the parking lot just outside the Barnes and Noble bookstore.
McCrary, who also goes by the name LeRoy Ernest McCrary, has a history of crimes in L.A. County. He was arrested and charged in October 2022 with being a narcotics addict in possession of a firearm, a felony. He pleaded no contest to that felony charge the October of the following year.
McCrary also was charged in a robbery case in September 2023 and pleaded no contest. He received a concurrent sentence for both convictions and got two years of probation and three years in state prison, with the sentence suspended.
McCrary also was arrested on suspicion of driving with a suspended license in both 2018 and 2021.
The Daily Mail reported that blame lay with Gascón, noting that he is “a progressive prosecutor who has been vocal about his belief that the criminal justice system needs to focus more on intervention and rehabilitation, blasting ‘tough on crime’ policies as racist and a failure.”
Gascón benefited in his 2020 election race from millions of dollars in spending by left-wing billionaire George Soros. He boasts of his record of reducing prison sentences for crimes.
Gascón has survived several recal attempts but is being opposed in November by former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of “”The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
