Los Angeles County prosecutors must speed up the process for filing charges against anyone accused of sex crimes or violence against family members, according to a new policy from the District Attorney’s Office.
Under the new policy, prosecutors must begin the process to file felony charges within one business day of the decision being made to seek an arrest warrant.
“Any unaddressed case is one too many, and this office will work diligently to address them all in as timely a manner as possible,” said District Attorney Nathan Hochman in a statement. “We owe it to the victims and their families to bring them justice for the harm they have suffered.”
The change comes after the recent arrest of Mario Edgardo Garcia-Aquino, a soccer coach accused of killing one of his players, 13-year-old Oscar Omar Hernandez.
Hernandez had gone to visit Garcia-Aquino in late March. Two days later, his parents reported him missing, and on April 2, the teen’s body was found in Oxnard.
Weeks before, on Feb. 22, prosecutors allege that Garcia-Aquino assaulted a 16-year-old with intent to commit a lewd act in Palmdale. He wasn’t arrested until April, on the day Hernandez was found dead.
Garcia-Aquino allegedly became friends with a Sylmar family, who let their teen son stay with him in Palmdale. The family then reported sexual abuse to the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station.
On April 7, Garcia-Aquino was also charged with murder in connection with Hernandez’s death, and prosecutors believe the killing happened while Garcia-Aquino was engaged in the commission or attempted commission of a lewd and lascivious act on a child under the age of 14.
Officials said former District Attorney George Gascon’s reorganization of filing cases and understaffing are among the reasons that created a backlog of sex crimes cases. The District Attorney’s Office said there have also been delays from law enforcement partners in responding to requests for further investigation as they also deal with staffing issues.
Since Hochman took office, officials said, they have reduced the backlog of cases from more than 10,000 to around 8,000.
The District Attorney’s Office has changed its filing process, trained all prosecutors on the electronic filing system and paid overtime for prosecutors to work late and on weekends to tackle the backlog of cases, Hochman said.
“These cases are often complicated and require intensive investigation that take additional time,” the District Attorney’s Office said. “Our prosecutors are working diligently not only to reduce the number of cases in the queue but also to keep pace with the sheer number of cases that are presented to our office – the largest, local prosecutorial agency in the nation.”
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