A recognized gang member with a protracted violent prison historical past accused of taking pictures a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy might have been stored behind bars if not for soft-on-crime insurance policies by the area’s prime prosecutor, his election opponent mentioned.
Raymundo Duran, 47, who allegedly shot Deputy Samuel Aispuro within the again at a cease mild whereas he was sitting on his marked sheriff’s division motorbike on April 22 in West Covina, California, has been concerned in quite a few violent crimes, together with two felony assaults that he dedicated whereas serving an 11-year sentence for manslaughter, in response to court docket information.
Aispuro, a virtually 20-year veteran of the division, was carrying his bulletproof vest and survived the unprovoked assault.
In 2021, Duran was arrested after main authorities on a automotive and foot chase by which he was charged with committing a hit-and-run, resisting arrest and fleeing from a police officer. Authorities had been pressured to collide with Duran’s car to cease him earlier than he briefly ran from the scene, authorities mentioned.
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Los Angeles County District Legal professional George Gascón, a Democrat, might have had Duran imprisoned, however he was as an alternative sentenced to probation as a part of a plea deal, in response to Gascón’s election challenger.
“Raymundo Duran, by all accounts, is a sociopath who has dedicated violent act after violent act for many years,” Nathan Hochman, a former federal prosecutor operating as an impartial to unseat Gascón, informed Fox Information Digital. “Sadly, the sentences that he is acquired have not deterred him from committing further violent conduct.”
“So, when George Gascón has his probability to cope with Mr. Duran and make it so he will not be capable to victimize others, he decides to go for the bottom sentences,” he added.
Gascón has confronted harsh criticism from his personal prosecutors in addition to regulation enforcement and elected officers over his progressive prison justice insurance policies.
Jason Lustig, a deputy district legal professional for Los Angeles County, mentioned prosecutors have been demoralized after practically 4 years below his boss.
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“Everyone has simply actually been sickened over it,” he informed Fox Information Digital. “We’ve got a front-row seat to seeing extra victims including up. We see it day by day.”
On the time of his 2021 arrest, Duran was a four-time convicted felon needed for a parole violation. He additionally has a 1996 conviction for home violence. In 2002, he was sentenced to 11 years in jail for stabbing his boss at a Jiffy Lube to demise as a part of a plea deal, Hochman famous.
In 2003, a yr into his jail time period, Duran assaulted a guard at Salinas Valley State Jail. He pleaded no contest in Monterey County Superior Court docket, court docket information state.
On Nov. 9, 2009, Duran stabbed one other prisoner with a “shank,” a makeshift knife. He was sentenced to a different 4 years after pleading responsible to assaulting a prisoner in a fashion prone to trigger nice bodily harm.
After his launch, he violated his parole, and in February 2022, he was arrested for illegal possession of a firearm by a felon. The crime was punishable by six years in jail, however prosecutors entered right into a plea cope with Duran, who was sentenced to 2 years, 4 months.
“In 2021, had he truly gotten a six-year sentence or longer, he would not have been within the place to have shot the gun on the deputy in West Covina,” Hochman mentioned.
Fox Information Digital has reached out to Gascón’s workplace.
Duran, who was in a 2008 Toyota Camry, was arrested in San Diego County hours after the ambush taking pictures. He’s charged with first-degree tried homicide of a peace officer, assault in opposition to a peace officer, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
“The mindless and unprovoked taking pictures of Deputy Samuel Aispuro is a stark reminder of the hazards our regulation enforcement officers face every day,” Gascón mentioned days after the taking pictures. “Our workplace is dedicated to vigorously prosecuting the offender to the fullest extent of the regulation. Our ideas are with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division and Deputy Aispuro as he recovers from this tragic incident.”
