Progressive LA DA, George Gascón,  now claims a two-year sentence in a juvenile facility that he got for a child molester may have been a mistake. 

Gascón has been in a very public fight defending his soft-on-crime policies. And is facing a recall. 

The judge was bound by the DA’s policies. Judge Mario Barrera emphasized at the hearing he was limited to sentencing Tubbs to two years. Because Gascón’s office would not file a request to send the case to adult court.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger also weighed in saying the judge’s “hands were tied” on sentencing because of the DA’s inaction.

Deputy District Attorney Shea Sanna was publicly critical. And there was debate inside the DA’s offices and with the public. Most were against the light sentence.

Sanna, the lead prosecutor in the Tubbs case, was frustrated in his attempts to house the 28-year-old Tubbs in the County jail with adults. He claims that she is a risk to juveniles in that facility.

Tubbs, a transgender woman, took a guilty plea last month for the 2014 attack. 

She sexually assaulted a 10-year-old in a women’s restroom at Denny’s restaurant. But she was two weeks shy of her 18th birthday. And identified as a male named James Tubbs at the time of the assault. 

Eight years later, after her arrest, Tubbs began identifying as a woman, according to prosecutors. And Gascón refused to file a motion to move the case into adult court. 

Jailhouse conversation made public

Gascón has previously insisted his handling of the Hannah Tubbs case was appropriate. But Hannah Tubbs' jailhouse comments are going viral.

Yahoo reported that in her jailhouse conversations with her father, Hannah claimed “nothing” would happen to her. And she cited the prosecutor's day-one directives barring "children" from being tried as adults as protecting her from any consequences.

And then claimed that nothing would happen because of the lenient policies that Gascon has in place.

She told her dad in the recorded call that she won’t have to register as a sex offender. She also made explicit remarks about the victim that are too obscene to be made public.

"I’m gonna plead out to it, plead guilty," Tubbs says in one recording. "They’re gonna stick me on probation, and it’s gonna be dropped, it’s gonna be done, I won’t have to register, won’t have to do nothing."

LA DA backs down

On Sunday the Los Angeles County DA admitted he should have handled the case differently. But claims he did not understand that she had a “disregard for the harm” that she caused her young victim.

“While for most people several years of jail time is adequate, it may not be for Ms. Tubbs,” the prosecutor said in a statement.

“After her sentencing in our case, I became aware of extremely troubling statements she made about her case, the resolution of it and the young girl that she harmed,” he added.

Gascón revises policies 

The day-one directives that were implemented when the LA DA took office in late 2020, are being modified. He announced revisions to those policies late Friday.

“This process ensures that only in the rarest of cases, where our system has failed, will we diverge from our principles,” Gascón said Sunday. “We do not always get it right, as no one can, but we do believe that our fundamental beliefs are the right ones.”

Deputy DA speaks out

Deputy District Attorney Shea Sanna has been critical of the policies. He told The New York Post that Gascón’s policy shift is to “temper bad publicity” over the case.

“It’s just smoke screens because the people who will be in these committees that will review these cases are his hitmen who will continue to take out these cases,” Sanna said. “This will not change anything.”

“George Gascón was in possession of all evidence and knew or should have known of every statement made by Tubbs when he said he still believes Tubbs should be tried as a juvenile,” Sanna said.

Sanna accused Gascón of trying to silence him. And disputes the LA DA’s claim he was unaware of Tubbs’ jailhouse recordings.

 “Gascón knew about all 250 plus jailhouse tapes and removed me from the case the night before the hearing where I was going to play the tapes.”