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DALaceyFaithLetterFinal 11 19 19
DALaceyFaithLetterFinal 11 19 19
Jackie Lacey
Los Angeles County
District Attorney’s Office
211 West Temple Street
Suite 1200
Los Angeles, CA 90012
We were inspired by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent announcement instituting a moratorium on executions and
dismantling the death chamber. He spoke from the heart about how the death penalty system is an abject
failure, how it causes many victims’ families further harm, and how we should be “better than this” as a society.
In stark contrast is a recent report documenting Los Angeles County’s overreliance on the death penalty. Of the
over 3,000 counties nationwide, Los Angeles County was one of only four counties in the whole country to obtain
more than one death sentence in 2018 [1], and it is just one of two counties nationwide to have more than 20
death sentences in the last seven years.
The District Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles has zealously pursued the death penalty, which has put us out of
step with the rest of California and the nation. In 2016, a majority of voters from Los Angeles County supported
an initiative to repeal the death penalty [2], and a March 2019 Public Policy Institute of California poll shows that
nearly two-thirds of LA county residents prefer alternatives to the death penalty [3]. We are especially concerned
that the majority of people who receive death sentences come from some of our most vulnerable populations,
including those with severe mental illnesses, histories of childhood trauma and abuse, intellectual disabilities,
and brain injury, as well as youthful offenders who were under the age of 25 at the time of the crime.
Respectfully,
Deacon Roland Abalos Rev. Edward Anderson Rev. Rebecca Bijur
St. Finbar Catholic Church McCarty Memorial Christian Unitarian Universalist Church
Burbank Church (Disciples of Christ) of Studio City
Los Angeles Santa Monica
Deacon Jim Allgaier
Our Lady of Deacon Arturo Barragan Rabbi Lisa Bock
Assumption (Catholic) St John the Baptist Jewish Community of Ojai
Claremont Catholic Church Ojai
Baldwin Park
Salam Al-Marayati Fr. Gregory J. Boyle, S.J.
President and Co-Founder Reverend Jamie Barnett Homeboy Industries
Muslim Public Affairs All Saints Pasadena (Episcopal) Roman Catholic
Council (MPAC) Pasadena Los Angeles
Los Angeles
Deacon Jose De Jesus Benavides Rabbi Sharon Brous
Pastor John Jay Alvaro Saint Marcellinus IKAR (Jewish)
First Baptist Church Pasadena Catholic Church Los Angeles
(American Baptist) Commerce
Pasadena Sister Kathleen Bryant
Religious Sisters of
Charity (Catholic)
Culver City
Reverend Evan Regis Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels Rabbi Avivah Erlick,
“Reegie” Bunch Beth Shir Shalom Jewish Chaplain
Pacific Southwest Region of Santa Monica Metropolitan State Hospital
the Christian Church Disciples Norwalk
of Christ Serving on the Deacon James &
Church and Society Committee Annette Crowley Deacon Robert Fargo
for the Region Assumption of the Blessed Padre Serra Parish (Catholic)
Los Angeles Virgin Mary (Catholic) Camarillo
Pasadena
Deacon Donald Burt Rabbi Emeritus
St. Lawrence Martyr (Catholic) Lead Pastor Dan Davidson Morley T. Feinstein
Torrance Rose City Church University Synagogue
(Free Methodist Church) Los Angeles
Campus Minister Pasadena
Joanna Carroll, CSJ Sister Julia M. Fetsche, CSJ
Loyola Marymount University Deacon Pedro De Leon Dolores Mission (Catholic)
(Catholic) St. Joseph Church Los Angeles
Los Angeles Catholic Church
Hawthorne The Rev. Dr. John C. Forney
Deacon Victor Ceja All Saints Episcopal Church
Our Lady of Perpetual Kathleen Domingo, Pasadena
Help (Catholic) Senior Director,
Downey Office of Life, Justice, and Rev. Larry W. Foy,
PeaceArchdiocese of Coordinator,
Rev. Jennifer Chapman Los Angeles (Roman Catholic) Interfaith Movement 4 Human
First United Methodist Church of Los Angeles Integrity/Justice Not Jails
Pasadena (Interdenominational)
Pasadena Deacon Joe Domond Los Angeles
Our Lady of the Assumption
Reverend Louis A. Chase Church (Catholic) Rabbi Laura Geller
(Retired) Claremont Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills
Holman United Methodist Los Angeles
Church Rev. Misty Jo Easton-Wise
Los Angeles Mountainside Communion Rabbi Susan Goldberg
Church (Church of Nefesh (Jewish)
Senior Rabbi Ken Chasen the Nazarene) Los Angeles
Leo Baeck Temple Glendale Diacono Jaime Guerrero
Los Angeles San Luis de Francia
Rabbi Denise L. Eger Church (Catolico)
Rabbi Aryeh Cohen Congregation Kol Ami La Puente
Bend the Arc: Jewish Action Jewish (Reform)
Los Angeles West Hollywood Deacon Tom Halliwell
St. Joseph Church (Catholic)
Rev. Dr. Matthew Colwell, Deacon Ron Elchert Long Beach
Senior Pastor St. Pius X (Catholic)
Knox Presbyterian Church Santa Fe Springs Rabbi Jonathan Hanish
Pasadena Kol Tikvah (Jewish)
Woodland Hills
Professor Christopher B. Hays Rabbi Cassi Kail
Fuller’s School of Temple Beth El (Reform) Rabbi Barry Lutz
TheologySt. Mark’s San Pedro Tikkun4Change (Jewish)
(Presbyterian Church USA) Porter Ranch
Altadena Rabbi David Kasher
IKAR (Jewish) Deacon Jorge Madrigal
Rev. Zachary Hoover Los Angeles St. Margaret Mary
First Baptist Church of Parish (Catholic)
Pasadena (American Baptist Rector Mike Kinman Lomita
Churches of the USA) All Saints Church (Episcopal)
Pasadena Pasadena Deacon Steve Marsh
St. Dorothy (Roman Catholic)
Rev. Dr. Sally Howard Rabbi Paul Kipnes Glendora
All Saints Episcopal Church Congregation Or Ami (Jewish)
Pasadena Tarzana Pastor Sheridan McDaniel
A Place for Worship
Rabbi Jocee Hudson Deacon Michael Kromm (Non-Denominational)
Temple Israel of Hollywood Holy Cross (Roman Catholic) Fullerton
Los Angeles Moorpark
Permanent Deacon
Sister MaryAnne Huepper, CSJ Sister Patricia Krommer, CSJ Chuck McDaniels Jr.
Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange Sisters of St. Joseph of Caronde- St. Rita of Cascia
(Roman Catholic) let (Roman Catholic) Parish (Catholic)
Los Angeles Los Angeles Arcadia
Names are listed alphabetically. Titles are for identification purposes only.
Sources:
1 https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/2018-sentencing
2 https://www.lavote.net/ElectionResults/Text/3496
3 https://www.ppic.org/blog/is-momentum-growing-to-end-californias-death-penalty/
4 https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-new-study-reveals-california-has-spent-4-billion-death-penalty
5 On October 18, 2019, a jury recommended that Michael Gargiulo (white) be sentenced to death, however his sentence will not be final until the
formal sentencing proceeding scheduled for Feb. 28, 2020.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-hollywood-ripper-jury-recommends-death-penalty-for-michael-gargiulo-2019-10-18/