Listen: El Dorado District Attorney Vern Pierson who serves as the President of California District Attorneys Association.
HIs message: There was nothing petty about what happened to former U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer yesterday—it was a violent robbery, and it was awful. This crime occurred in broad daylight in Oakland’s Jack London District, a popular tourist destination that also happens to be in the California Senate District of Senator Nancy Skinner. The same Nancy Skinner who proposed declaring such horrific crimes misdemeanor petty thefts under SB 82.
Make no mistake, this was a strong-arm robbery of an 80-year-old grandmother. Fortunately, she was not seriously injured. While Senator Boxer is prominent and a household name due to her lengthy tenure in Congress, there are countless other lesser- known victims who have endured similar attacks. To be clear, all these victims were subjected to a violent crime, and it would be a terrible insult to minimize their trauma by calling it misdemeanor petty theft—a low-level offense that is eligible for diversion. Senator, your reforms have gone too far—it is time to withdraw your bill, SB 82. It is not reform—it is madness that only encourages lawlessness.
“This is a real life example of why I have been fighting to keep the crime of robbery from being downgraded to a petty theft,” said El Dorado District Attorney Vern Pierson who serves as the President of CDAA. “It’s ridiculous that SB82 is being called ‘reform,’ because in the real world, it will be a flat-out invitation for robbers to violently attack innocent people.”
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