Prosecutors: Do Your Job!

There is a destructive crime and justice trend afoot that clearly endangers public safety.
No, it is not the actions of violent protestors and riotous thugs. It is the deliberate inaction of District Attorneys who are refusing to prosecute violations of law.

You’d likely be fired if you failed to do what you were hired to do. It’s not that easy when dealing with an elected or appointed District Attorney who is tasked with investigating and prosecuting citizens who break the law.
Mike Schmidt, the DA in riot-scarred Portland announced he’s dropping charges against hundreds of protestors arrested for criminal trespass, disorderly conduct or interfering with a law enforcement officer. He won’t prosecute those arrested for rioting either unless there’s some serious additional crime, like arson, included.

The Facebook banner on District Attorney Mike Schmidt's public page
Justice For Who? Rioters or Citizens Victimized by Riots?

In July, Antifa and Black Lives Matter supporter Michael Reinoehl, was arrested for illegally possessing a loaded firearm and resisting arrest. But the previous DA dropped the case, Reinoehl was set free. In early September, Reinoehl confessed on videotape to fatally shooting Aaron “Jay” Danielson, a pro-Trump supporter. Reinoehl said it was self-defense but surveillance video showed him lying in wait for a target. U.S. Marshalls hunted down the fugitive Reinoehl and he was killed in an exchange of gunfire.
Two men dead who didn’t have to die.
This DA dereliction of duty is occurring across the country. Progressive prosecutors are picking and choosing which laws to uphold and which to ignore.

Wikipedia photo - Creative Commons licence
D.A. Larry Krasner Experimented With Gun Law Prosecutions

In Philadelphia, DA Larry Krasner decided to ease up on those arrested on gun-related charges. He’s also against prosecuting marijuana dealers and sex workers because, he says, “people’s freedom makes us safer.” Homicide rates in Philadelphia have risen 30% and Krasner now agrees his prosecutors should work more closely with police to crack down on gun violence. Duh.
In Contra Costa County, California DA Diana Becton instructed her prosecutors to consider looters’ “needs” when deciding whether to file criminal charges. The head of the Police Officers Association says the policy is “reckless” and asks, “At what point does our District Attorney’s Office advocate for the victims,” like local business owners whose shops have been destroyed?
In Boston, DA Rachael Rollins has a Decline to Prosecute list of 15 charges including drug possession and possession with intent to distribute, receiving stolen property, malicious destruction of property and shoplifting. She says judges told her those crimes were “bogging down” the system so she decided to ignore them. The Massachusetts Retail Association reports businesses there loose about $1 billion a year to shoplifting. Ignore the crime and punish the victim? Sounds crazy.

Profile Photo from DA Rollins Facebook Page.
DA Rollins Ignores the Plight of Businesses

In Chicago, DA Kimberly Foxx campaigned on a promise not to prosecute low-level drug and shoplifting offenses and to change the way the system dealt with minority defendants. She’s the DA who dropped the false report charges against actor Jussie Smollett who claimed a racial attack. An independent review concluded Foxx dropped 5,000 cases that would have been prosecuted by her predecessor.
Yes, DA’s have discretion to decide which cases to take and which to drop, but this willy-nilly social experimentation with the law is dangerous. If laws are on the books they should be upheld. If they are unfair then state legislatures should change them. No, we don’t want to be a country that locks up hungry people who shoplift food and necessities to survive but a blanket pass for almost all shoplifters is counterproductive.

This is Kimberly Foxx's official state photograph.
Top Prosecutor Kim Foxx’s Title is “States Attorney”

DA Becton, Rollins, Foxx and the DA’s from St. Louis and Durham (all female and all Black) penned an opinion piece for Politico in which they openly blasted the very criminal justice system they swore to uphold. They wrote that the system was “constructed to control Black people and people of color” and called for major changes in prosecutorial attitudes.Look, it is clear Black and Brown people represent a disproportionate number of defendants in the criminal justice system. Is it because they, proportionally, commit more crimes or is it because their skin color and lower income status makes them more vulnerable to failures within the justice system? Could be that both are true.
Let’s reach an honest conclusion about the “why” and “who” of crime before making a mockery of the legal system by ignoring those laws deemed by some DA’s to be irrelevant.

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CORRECTION: My original column mistakenly left the impression that D.A. Mike Schmidt dropped the gun possession charges against BLM/Antifa supporter Michael Reinoehl in July 2020. That dismissal was ordered by the previous District Attorney. I regret the error and this version of the column carries the correction.

44 Comments

  1. Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 10:11 am

    NavyVet writes:

    Excellent report Diane. But I think you missed something. How many of these DA are elected, and were their campaigns funded from outside their jurisdictions, by, say, Soros?

    • Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 10:12 am

      Diane replies to Navy Vet.

      Some of these District Attorneys did receive major campaign contributions from George Soros – like the DA in Dallas to cite one example. But not all of them got Soros money. Had I been allowed more word count I could have mentioned which ones got Soros campaign contributions and how much. That information is easily found on Google.

  2. Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 10:13 am

    HopefulOne writes:

    If you take an oath of office to uphold the laws, then you’ve failed to keep that oath. If you took the oath deceitfully, which is what appears to be the case with most of these communist DA’s, then they should be indicted, in my opinion, for perjury or for denying citizens of their constitutional rights by their failure to protect by trying criminals.

  3. Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 10:13 am

    JamesMadison1791 writes:

    These “selective” district attorneys are fools or worse.
    I have to wonder what these self-righteous fools will do when the actual victims of their crimes say “no more.”

    A citizen;
    Can’t lock up a shoplifter.
    Can’t arrest a looter.
    Can’t incarcerate a burglar.
    Can’t dump a drunk or drug addict into the “drunk tank.”
    What we, citizens, can do is protect our lives and our property.
    What is that same self-righteous District attorney going to do when Law-abiding citizens defend themselves and their property with their 2nd amendment rights.
    Even more important is what is that same fool going to do when a jury of their peers refuses to convict an innocent citizen defending their livelihood and their property, while claiming to be “IN FEAR OF THEIR LIFE.”

    • Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 10:14 am

      nutNice replies to James Madison1791:

      Totally agree except we do not have the right to defend property by force. Wish we did. You can defend yourself by deadly force from a carjacker, but can’t stop a car thief by deadly force. You can defend your home by deadly force from an intruder, in most states, but even then many require imminent threat to do so. You may defend yourself from physical threat or another facing the same by use of reasonable force, but there again, deadly force only if faced with imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm. Most states allow apprehension of a felon in the act, but.. again, the use of a weapon is only purposeful as a means of self defense from being attacked or threatened with a weapon. This is resultant of Heller’s constraint placed on the 2nd limiting deadly force to self defense and surmising our RTKBA originates from the castle doctrine. Lawlessness blossomed after this decision.
      When I was young you could shoot a fleeing felon in the back, but now they know all they have to do is make a getaway..

    • Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 10:14 am

      JamesMadison1791 replies to nutNice:

      I think you missed my underlying meaning. If you are at your property, You do have a right to defend it. You may not have the right to use lethal force.
      You have a right to be on your property.
      You have a right to defend your property.
      If you are standing in front of your property and someone say, throws a molotov cocktail at your property behind you.
      You are in fear of your life. that person just threw a firebomb at you. With all that mob there, it isn’t safe to turn and run. You blow his head off before he throws another molotov cocktail at you.
      Like I said, ” I was on my property. that idiot threw a molotov cocktail at me. he missed. I shot him in self defense. I WAS IN FEAR FOR MY LIFE…
      A couple of years ago, I was sitting with a cop buddy of mine. Fleeing felons came up in our discussion. The way he explained it to me is that you can shoot a fleeing felon if he is armed and there is reasonable cause to think he is a danger.
      Finally there is a difference between Court decision and what the public will tolerate.
      By all appearances, I think their tolerance is near an end.

  4. Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 10:15 am

    KJY writes:

    Two tier justice system. Anarcho tyranny – a term by Sam Francis in 1992. A condition of both anarchy and tyranny side by side. Anarchy is the failure of the state to enforce laws; tyranny is the enforcement of laws by the state for oppressive reasons. It’s the new U.S. we live in now.

  5. Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 10:15 am

    MJ Ponsegrau writes:

    Has anyone bothered to notice how so many of these officials all swore an oath to uphold our Constitution, Bill of Rights and the laws of our nation and states; yet here they are doing just the opposite. Why aren’t they being forced from office and tried for their criminal acts accordingly?

    • Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 10:18 am

      Diane replies to MJ Ponsegrau:

      All very good questions, MJ. Here’s another – why do the voters keep voting them in or why do they keep being re-appointed?

  6. Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 10:17 am

    Press on. . . writes:

    Yes it’s chaos! Freedom without responsibility and accountability for behavior within the law is chaos. It can not stand.

  7. Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 10:17 am

    Julian Dobbie writes:

    I somehow feel these DAs are getting thier marching orders from a single source too. Check their bank accounts.

  8. Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 10:19 am

    Old Boy Scout writes:

    Profoundly well written, Ms. Dimond.
    Voters will change this – good DA’s will replace the anti-law’s.
    My 2nd Amendments tell me so.

  9. Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 10:19 am

    James Sands writes:

    How did so many these progressive district attorneys simultaneously get these jobs anyway? For elected offices who’s funding their campaigns? I would guess those appointed to the job have politics similar to those appointing them… at least that’s the progressive way isn’t it? It’s not the most qualified for the job they appoint, it’s who’s going to social engineer their communities along the lines the mayor chooses, right?

    • Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 10:19 am

      Diane replies to James Sands:

      See the comments above about Mr. George Soros. He donates heavily to local campaigns.

  10. Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 10:20 am

    Caclegal writes:

    Any DA who refuses to uphold the law, or selectively does so, should lose his/her license to practice law.

  11. Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 10:20 am

    mnm9206 writes:

    District Attorney’s that refuse to uphold the law will be voted out! Who is pulling the puppet strings of these people.

  12. Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 10:21 am

    Shannon Mindy writes:

    Saying that an individual is disadvantaged related to skin color and opportunity is just a cop out. It’s easy money. They don’t have to get up and go to work like many of us. Don’t enable crime and lawlessness. That leads to civil disobedience. The police are defunded and not able to respond to crimes. People are just going to take matters into their own hands. I can’t believe their lack of foresight. I work hard for what I have and I’m not going to let thugs take away what I have worked hard for.

  13. Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 10:21 am

    Max James writes:

    It’s time for a new approach to equity and fairness. And the first step should be the identification & removal of all positions, powers, roles and functions that allow & enable an individual, group, business to operate their own system of justice. And act as law enforcement, prosecutor, court, judge and prison system.
    Whether its social media employees deciding their own version of what freedom of speech should be, or prosecutors deciding what laws need upholding and which don’t, it needs to stop.

  14. Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 10:22 am

    Marcus Hackley writes:

    Apparently in some place crime actually DOES pay……..

  15. Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 10:22 am

    Boomer 634 writes:

    Between the riots burning and looting everything and businesses and residents leaving he soon won’t be needed. So the problem will take care of itself. Of course there won’t be any tax base left so there won’t be any money to pay him.

  16. Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 10:22 am

    terry bridge writes:

    Yet…when Fed prosecutors, the DoJ, tries to drop charges against Flynn…

  17. Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 10:23 am

    ronald clark writes:

    Selective law enforcement and prosecution became very popular under the Obama administration. His policies of prosecutorial discretion, for example, ignored all immigration law violators unless they committed the most serious felonies.

  18. Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 10:35 am

    bondcliff@bondcliff writes:

    It’s because DA’s are politicians. Being a DA to most is just a stepping stone in a political career in order to get into a higher office where the real money is. It’s about wealth, not public service. Why are so many politicians millionaires after one term? Insider trading.

  19. Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 10:36 am

    Jeff Taylor@JeffTaylor1964 writes:

    unfortunately, I don’t think you fully understand that these DA’s are doing exactly what they were put there to do by those who funded their campaigns. You’re not going to convince them to do differently, we can only hope to vote law and order imposing DAs back into those offices

    • Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 10:39 am

      Diane replies to Jeff Taylor:

      Oh, I DO understand exactly what’s happening that is why I write about this topic. I believe the majority of citizens want law and order, to live in safety and not fear. They want their top prosecutor to make them feel that their community is a safe one because s/he locked up the criminals. I write about this because it is time that Joe and Jane Doe who feel this way but “forget” to vote start getting up off the couch and exercising their most sacred right to vote the bums out of office. The only way I can help in this mess is to write about it – point it out – and, hopefully, affect some change.

  20. Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 10:43 am

    Carl@heatwave30 writes:

    It has to be deliberate! They have clearly encouraged the violence! They vow to continue the violence if Trump is re-elected! That is clearly an effort to blackmail people into voting for Biden. It hopefully will backfire and cause millions of voters GOP

  21. Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 11:04 am

    Joe Bob Nunez writes:

    Our legal system is one of the most corrupt parts of government. They are untouchable. Very sad

  22. Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 2:31 pm

    Cliff Darnell writes:

    The perpetrators of crimes used to be a few …. Now the numbers are ever growing . Sure blame the lazy prosecutors. But ideology like;
    “it’s okay they have insurance”
    The person or Government that let that style of thought creep into heads is to blame.

    • Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 3:45 pm

      Michael Hughes replies to Cliff:

      Cliff, Insurance may be on building and contents, how about customer base, 12 hour days to get business going, now you have a burnt out building, fighting insurance co saying your computer is depreciated 50% along with all other fixtures

  23. Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 2:31 pm

    Mary Louise writes:

    Lol that’s a turn of events Diane Dimond. Who would of thought we’d see the day one would make such statements as this it’s laughable if not hilarious… Cops are scared bottom line

  24. Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 3:41 pm

    Thomas P. Shamshak writes:

    Diane – Good job with the article. Why didn’t you include anything about San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin. Ultra-lefty Yale Law grad, Rhodes scholar and more importantly the adopted son of Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn. Bill was co-founder of the radical 60’s group Weather Underground. He blew up several prominent public buildings. Chesa was adopted after his parents were imprisoned for lengthy stretches for a NY Brinks Truck Robbery and Murder of the guards. Chesa has initiated some despicable anti-police measures. Please check him out. He is deserving of his own feature article.
    Regards, Chief Tom Shamshak (Ret).

    • Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 3:42 pm

      Diane replies to Chief Shamshak:

      I’m only allowed 700 words, Chief, and I just couldn’t list all of the D.A.’s who’ve adopted these crazy non-prosecution policies. I felt the Contra Costa DA’s order to her prosecutors to take into account looters “needs” before pursuing charges was just so ludacris I had to mention it. Given that I already had a California DA – I moved on to other parts of the country to prove this isn’t an isolated movement. It’s in Dallas, Boston, Philly, Portland, etc. I’m aware of Chesa Boudin – his family history and his performance in office. Perhaps in a future column I can highlight him….

      • Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 3:47 pm

        Thomas P. Shamshak replies to Diane:

        I understand your journalistic constraints. Yeah, he is well worthy of a stand alone article. Many police organizations are watching him. Rachel Rollins is one crazy Marxist. She wants to charge cops for excessive use of force and has instructed ADAs to look for opportunities to prosecute cops. So sad.

  25. Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 3:44 pm

    Denise Conroy writes:

    It falls to the State Attorney to prosecute these cases Diane. We’re currently stuck with that moron Kim Foxx in Cook County. She has to go! She’s well known for cutting sweetheart plea deals with murderers, sex offenders, child predators, gangbanging thugs and so on.

    Oh and the Jessie Smollett case??? She’s friends with him and his family and many of us got involved and spoke out loud and a special prosecutor was appointed and proved Foxx didn’t do anything right with his case and he has since filed charges against Smollett. As it should have been done from the start.

    We’re currently working on having her removed as her ego won’t allow this criminal sympathizer to resign. The so called justice system here hasn’t changed. It’s only become worse and I’m living proof of that. It’s the DA’s, not the mayor’s who get these cases. It’s in their hands. Not the police who bring the cases and not the Mayors.

  26. Diane Dimond on September 14, 2020 at 3:50 pm

    Anthony J Daquino writes:

    Here in your hometown of Albuquerque Fabian Gonzales, he of the Victoria Martens* murder and mutilation, is being permitted to stay out on parole despite violating his conditions of parole TWICE. And as if that weren’t bad enough, the Judge also relaxed some of his restrictions!

    *DD note: Victoria was a 10 year old child.

  27. Diane Dimond on September 15, 2020 at 11:53 am

    Kimberly Ludtke writes:

    To your point Diane, homeless encampments in Philadelphia have been allowed to miss 3 deadlines to vacate; they know nothing will happen to them if they ignore directions. A City official said recently on camera that they are being “individual centric”. No one is physically removed because they don’t want anyone to be hurt. Meanwhile, a new Whole Foods next to one of the encampments is boarded up for fear of store damage from rioting. It sits at the base of a high-rise apartment building, which means the residents have to go elsewhere for food. The encampment people want media attention for their demands and as a result they are in no hurry to strike a deal.

  28. Diane Dimond on September 15, 2020 at 11:53 am

    Emily Barsh writes:

    This has been a years-in-the-making phenomenon. Big, dark money has financed dozens of campaigns at the grass roots level, all across the country. It’s part of the same playbook/matrix where the last chapter is a shredding of the US Constitution. None of this is our imagination. Your piece is fantastic and chilling. It could certainly be a series!

  29. Diane Dimond on September 15, 2020 at 11:54 am

    Calvin De Mond writes:

    Peaceful protest is a Constitutional right. Contrary to what some believe, there are peaceful protests and peaceful protesters. The narrative has been diverted from what the protests are about to the criminal activity that is attracted to it. I see this as an attempt to shut down the message of the protests by lumping the good people in with the bad. No body wants to talk about the perpetual injustice just the criminal activity.

    • Diane Dimond on September 15, 2020 at 11:54 am

      Diane replies to Calvin:

      I often write about peaceful protests, police brutality and racial injustice, Calvin De Mond. I’m sorry you see this as an attempt to shut down legitimate protests.

      • Diane Dimond on September 15, 2020 at 11:55 am

        Calvin De Mond replies to Diane:

        Diane Dimond I am just expressing my concerns from the feedback that I am receiving. People on the right see the protests as riots and looting. People on the left see a peaceful protest interrupted by the police, criminals and militias.
        When people are shot with teargas and rubber bullets at a peaceful assembly it is an attempt to stop the protest. I find this odd since they are protesting police brutality.

      • Diane Dimond on September 15, 2020 at 12:02 pm

        Diane replies to Calvin:

        I respect your opinion and your right to express it. However, I must disagree that what we are witnessing not only in Portland but in several other locations nationwide are PEACEFUL protests. When windows are smashed, looting takes place, businesses are destroyed, fires set, citizens harassed as they try to eat a restaurant meal — All done by BLM/ANTIFA disciples demanding dismantling of the police and unconditional acceptance of their demands (“say her name!” or “raise your fist with us” or “death to the pigs”) THAT IS NOT A PEACEFUL PROTEST. In the same vein I in no way condone violence done by the police or by those zealots on the right Calvin,…It is ALL destructive and often criminal. And it has to stop.

  30. Diane Dimond on September 15, 2020 at 12:03 pm

    Marian Richardson-Arvanitopoulos writes:

    I’m glad you are speaking out against the crime and violence! The way things are going, it will take decades to recover and our debt will be exasperating. But it appears as though that is part of the democratic agenda!

  31. Diane Dimond on September 15, 2020 at 12:04 pm

    Baxter Porter VI writes:

    Prosecutors deciding what to and what not to prosecute isn’t a new concept, nor does it have a single thing to do with the current unrest in cities across the nation.
    The folks in Portland who were arrested had zero idea as to whether or not they would be prosecuted or not. In fact I’m pretty sure they thought they would be, but not for anything too serious so long as they didn’t commit any serious crimes.
    That said, I agree that prosecutors should do their jobs. ALL of them. Be it “white collar crimes” that countless people with wealth get away with (looking at you, Lori), to people in positions in power answering for their crimes (well actually, the prosecutors for ALL the people charged in this current administration actually DID their jobs, but the head of the DOJ is corrupt, so, what can you do? Maybe there’s a story in there), to vandals that destroy property.

  32. Diane Dimond on September 21, 2020 at 10:54 am

    Jesse Sullivan writes:

    Criminals should be lucky I went to music school and not law school. They are even more lucky I am not a judge. For violent offenders of the law I would put down the maximum sentence and fines.

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