Los Angeles County Prosecutors must accelerate the presentation of charges for serious crimes against people accused of sexual crimes or violence against family members, according to a new policy announcement on Thursday.
The announcement follows a recent report by Los Angeles Times that highlights how a criminal case portfolio in the district prosecutor may have played a role in sexual assault and the murder of a 13 -year -old boy.
Director Dist. Chief. Atty Steve Katz said Thursday that once a decision has been made to request an arrest warrant in such cases, the process to file a criminal complaint must begin within a business day, according to a copy of a memorandum throughout the office reviewed by The Times.
“The urgency with which a case must be processed and presented is particularly large when the underlying behavior implies family violence or sexual assault, including issues in which the defendant is not in custody,” Katz wrote.
The announcement of the policy occurs approximately 24 hours after the Times published a report that confirms that a portfolio of thousands of pending cases in the district prosecutor played a role in the delay of charges against Mario Edgardo García-Aquino, 43, a North Hollywood football coach, once, who is now accused of murder in the death of one of his players, Oscar Oscar Oscar Oscar Oscar Oscar Oscar Oscar Oscar Oscar. years.
A 16-year-old boy accused García-Aquino of inappropriate sexual behavior in February 2024, and the department of the Los Angeles County Sheriff presented a case to prosecutors for the presentation in May of that year. But the charges did not appear for more than 10 months due to a portfolio of almost 10,000 cases, according to multiple sources of application of the law and an email reviewed by The Times.
The District Prosecutor's Office confirmed that the request portfolio was a factor to delay charges against García-Aquino earlier this week. But in a statement, the office said it had also suggested that the case could have been slowed through requests for “additional forensic evidence.”
However, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff's department said detectives in the case were never “requested additional information or evidence in the case by the District Prosecutor's Office.”
“The toxicology report was presented with [the investigator’s] Report completed in May 2024, ”said Nicole Nishida.
The boy, whom friends and family called Omar, was last seen addressing a Metrolink train to Palmdale, where he was supposed to help García-Aquino do football shirts. The coach is accused of killing him during a lascivious law on March 28, and the body of the seventh grade student was found in Ventura County in early April.
The prosecutors presented charges against García-Aquino in the previous case on April 2, four days after Omar was killed.
Concerns about a growing accumulation of criminal cases reached a high point during the mandate of Dist. Atty. George Gascón. In July 2023, public records showed that around 10,000 criminal cases presented by the Police in 2021 and 2022 were still waiting for a presentation decision. Among them had accused accused of murder, domestic violence and crimes of arms.
Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman and the president of the union that represents the rank and archive prosecutors said that the request for orders was caused by a decision of Gascón to centralize the presentations electronically, as well as a personnel crisis within the prosecutor's prosecutor's office. According to Ryan Erlich, the president of the Union, about 750 deputy district prosecutors in the ranks of Hochman, the smallest list that the office has seen in decades. That figure does not include about 50 prosecutors at the management level, who rarely handle judgments or presentation decisions.
Gascón has not responded to requests for comments. A spokesman for the District Prosecutor's Office did not immediately respond to a consultation on policy change on Thursday.
Hochman repeatedly attacked Gascon on the conditions that led to the accumulation of the campaign last year, and said he has intensified efforts to clear the tail in recent weeks.
García-Aquino is accused of murder and several positions of sexual abuse against two other players derived from accusations dating from 2022. The authorities have warned that there may be more victims. The coach did not enter a plea during a brief appearance in a room in the city center this week.
The representatives of the victim's family have expressed their outrage that García-Aquino was not arrested before.
“I am surprised that he took so long to present these positions. They could have saved the life of this child,” said Michael Carrillo, Omar's family lawyer, earlier this week. “Someone must be responsible here for keeping this man in the streets and led to the murder of this child … Someone needs to come to the family and explain how this could happen.”
