Gascón gave teen killer second chance — now she’s charged again

The crime Shanice Amanda Dyer committed as a 17-year-old was as horrific as it was seemingly random. Although Gascón’s juvenile policy is in line with a broader movement to keep youths out of adult prisons in California — where only a dozen teens were tried in adult court last year — Dyer could have faced life in prison for the double murder if her case had not stayed before a juvenile court judge. Shawn Randolph — the district attorney’s former top juvenile prosecutor, who alleged she faced retaliation after pushing back against Gascón’s policies and won a lawsuit against him last year — called the latest alleged killing by Dyer “predictable and preventable.” On Gascón’s initial ban on pursuing adult charges, Randolph said: “He ordered that juveniles that had demonstrated a propensity to kill would be released well before their brains had finished developing, unleashing them on a vulnerable public to kill again.” Under Gascón’s current policy, L.A. County prosecutors seeking to charge juveniles as adults have been required to send cases to an internal committee; 23 such proposals have been approved, according to the district attorney’s office, and only one has been transferred into adult court by a judge. Tiffiny Blacknell, Gascón’s chief spokeswoman, said it was unlikely Dyer’s initial case would have met the standard for a transfer to adult court even if Gascón had allowed pursuing that option in 2021. Former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman, running to unseat Gascón, said his opponent “could not have handled the Dyer case any worse.” “First of all, he imposed a blanket policy refusing to transfer any juveniles to criminal court under any circumstances.