opinion

Mike Hestrin is the Riverside County District Attorney he vowed to be. Give him another term.

California voters will cast their ballots on June 5. The Desert Sun Editorial Board will be publishing their endorsements for Riverside County Sheriff-Coroner and Fourth District Supervisor this weekend. Here's the board's recommendation for district attorney.

The June 5 election for Riverside County District Attorney involves two candidates with contrasting views and styles.

Incumbent Mike Hestrin has spent the past three-plus years since becoming district attorney building his already substantial traditional law-and-order bona fides. Challenger Lara Gressley seeks to take over as the county’s top prosecutor and lead it in a way driven by her criminal defense and appellate law background.

In 2014, The Desert Sun Editorial Board endorsed Hestrin’s challenge to his then-boss, one-term incumbent Paul Zellerbach, who had defeated single-term D.A. Rod Pacheco four years prior.

Hestrin, who had risen to senior deputy status in his 15 years with the D.A.’s office, earned the Editorial Board’s accolades as “an intelligent and experienced” prosecutor with dozens of murder trials under his belt, including seven death penalty cases.

PALM SPRINGS PROSECUTION: Corruption case follows City Hall raid

BEAUMONT CASE: Former officials plead guilty in embezzlement scheme

JUNE 5 BALLOT: Editorial Board view of Palm Springs vacation rental measure

The Palm Springs native, who now lives in Murrieta, ran on a platform that promised increased anti-gang efforts and the creation of innovative programs such as a youth outreach program with intense involvement of D.A.’s office staff to help reduce crime.

Hestrin has shown he can manage the office in financially reeling Riverside County well, reducing the D.A. office’s deficit from nearly $20 million when he took over to about $2 million now. Meanwhile, his office has continued to handle thousands of cases each year, including high-profile ones such as the ongoing Palm Springs City Hall bribery, perjury and conflict of interest case and another public corruption case in Beaumont city government. He deserves a new term to continue the progress he’s made.

Hestrin as D.A.

During the recent candidate interview session with The Desert Sun Editorial Board, Hestrin discussed some of the milestones since he took over after the roller-coaster, one-and-done tenures of Pacheco and Zellerbach.

Hestrin defended his office’s use of court injunctions targeting gang activity, including one in Coachella brought against the notorious Varrio Coachella Rifa. While a federal judge recently barred LAPD enforcement of most of its remaining gang injunctions after they were challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union, Hestrin noted that his office’s efforts have survived court challenges so far. He said that was because prosecutors closely vetted each of the individuals named and included safeguards, such as a five-year “wash out” deadline which automatically drops a named person from the injunction if he or she stays clear of legal trouble.

Gressley pointed out problems she sees with gang injunctions — such as criminalizing legal activity like simply associating with others and how being listed in an injunction can make it difficult for past gang members to move on and try to help former peers to do so as well. Hestrin’s office, however, has wisely used the injunction strategy to withstand scrutiny while effectively cutting gang-related activity in Coachella; Hestrin said the city saw five gang-related homicides in the year before the injunction and none in the last two years.

The Riverside County District Attorney’s office has also taken flak from some quarters when it comes to the death penalty. The Death Penalty Information Center issued a report last year that suggested a “win at all costs” culture in the D.A.’s office sent Riverside County to the top of the list of U.S. counties when it comes to the death penalty. Gressley, meanwhile, noted that such cases cost $1 million-plus to prosecute and death row inmates cost double to incarcerate than others in California, which hasn’t executed anyone in a dozen years. Also troubling, she said, were legal developments that later cleared some condemned convicts.

Hestrin makes no apologies for pursuing capital cases, though he acknowledged that if California is going to have a death penalty it should actually use it in a way that promotes justice in the most heinous of cases. He noted that comparing Riverside County to other U.S. counties is not quite apples to apples, as Riverside County’s population is greater than that of 15 U.S. states. He also said that all five of the capital cases his office prosecuted last year involved multiple victims, elevating them to “most heinous” status.

Riverside County residents are on Hestrin’s side here, with voters in 2016 both strongly supporting a statewide measure that aimed to streamline the death penalty process as they also overwhelmingly helped to defeat a competing ballot measure that would have eliminated capital punishment in California.

On other issues, from dealing with the effects on county law enforcement from state moves to cut its inmate population under court order, to how he’s reined in the chaos at a D.A.’s office previously in turmoil, Hestrin has shown he’s an effective leader.

Gressley’s case

Challenger Gressley’s roots as a defendant’s advocate resonated throughout her answers to the Editorial Board’s questions. She’s clearly passionate in her commitment to justice for both victims of crime and their families as well as those accused of a crime.

She said her motivation to run came, in part, from conversations with some in the D.A.’s office who complained of micromanagement of cases from above and morale issues.

Gressley suggested that the D.A.’s office could get an even better handle on costs to the entire legal system by changes to what she deemed an ethically challenged, “win at all costs” mentality that leans on practices such as overcharging of defendants to force plea deals. Many cases could be dealt with via much less costly diversion programs, she said, and that also could cut or eliminate lengthy stays in jail for defendants awaiting trial in a clogged court system.

Gressley’s entire background is on the defense side of the table. Her concerns about defendant’s rights and how conscious application of them by the D.A. are noted, though we believe Hestrin’s record shows he’s handled himself well in this regard.

In a key area for Riverside County voters, Gressley acknowledged she has never defended someone accused of a crime where the death penalty was on the table. Her lack of experience here is a big drawback.

Re-elect Hestrin

Hestrin acknowledged some challenges stemming from the past administrations remain and some of his many young prosecutors, like himself as the boss, have had a learning curve. Hestrin has made a serious course correction from the bad old days of Pacheco and Zellerbach and deserves the chance to continue his reforms.

As far as the morale question, this flies in the face of the Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Association vote of 90-plus percent to endorse Hestrin for re-election.

Hestrin deserves your vote on June 5.