Pubdate: Thu, 05 Dec 2013 Source: Sacramento News & Review (CA) Copyright: 2013 Chico Community Publishing, Inc. Contact: http://newsreview.com/sacto/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/540 Author: John Duree SACTO DA'S OFFICE NEEDS CHANGE Re "Word of the law" by Jeff vonKaenel (SN&R News, November 21): Thanks for the interview with Todd Leras, candidate for Sacramento district attorney. I am a certified specialist in criminal law and a former prosecutor. I have worked in our criminal-justice system for over 30 years. Sacramento desperately needs a change from Jan Scully's rigid and conservative practices toward the more reasonable and flexible approach offered by Leras. I represent many individuals charged with marijuana offenses that are related to state medical-marijuana laws. The Sacramento DA's office, under the Scully-Anne Marie Schubert administration, routinely presents a grudging and aggressive approach to dealing with such cases, as if they saw no difference between medical producers and foreign cartels. They have taken positions in court that-if the court actually adopted those positions-would eliminate dispensaries completely. Fortunately, our courts have put a check on the district attorney's aggressive views. In other contexts, the Scully-Schubert "tough on crime" persona does not fairly consider the individual circumstances that bear on the ultimate question of what penalty will be imposed on offenders. There is a wide spectrum of individuals who cross legal lines: No doubt some need lengthy incarceration. On the other hand, all of them do not. The ability to differentiate between the seriously bad and the not so bad, who can learn a lesson and probably not re-offend, is the mark of a good prosecutor. It has been missing in Sacramento County. John Duree Sacramento - --- MAP posted-by: Matt