District Attorney Gascón: Part 1
Imperfect Paradise
LAist Studios
4.5 • 535 Ratings
🗓️ 4 September 2024
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Voters elected Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón in 2020 on his promises to undo decades of mass incarceration, tackle what many viewed as excessive prison sentences, and to generally create a fairer system. LAist Civics & Democracy Correspondent Frank Stoltze explores the criminal justice system Gascón set out to change. He examines decades-old practices and the impact on the people imprisoned through the case of Jose Santana. Santana ended up being sentenced to 22 years in adult prison for robbing two kids of their cellphones when he was 15.
Support for this podcast is made possible by Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live.
Support LAist today: https://LAist.com/join
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Support for LAIS comes from Car Pros Kia, featuring the 2027 Kia Telluride hybrid with a striking new design and family-friendly seating for up to eight. |
| 0:09.5 | You can learn more at CarPros Kia in Glendale, Huntington Beach, and Moreno Valley. |
| 0:15.1 | LAISD is supported by Elephant Energy. |
| 0:17.7 | Elephant Energy is LA's expert in installing modern and efficient heating and cooling |
| 0:22.0 | systems, the new standard for whisper-quiet comfort year-round. They handle the design and the |
| 0:27.6 | rebates to save you thousands. Claim your rebates at elephantenergy.com. This is Imperfect Paradise, |
| 0:33.6 | the show about the gap between the dream and reality. I'm Antonia Serejito. |
| 0:42.7 | This past March was my first time covering an election. It was a primary election here in Los Angeles. |
| 0:49.7 | One of the races on the ballot was for Los Angeles County District Attorney. The incumbent, George Gascon, was running for re-election against 11 challengers. |
| 0:59.9 | If he could win the majority of the votes, that would be it, election over. Gascon wins. |
| 1:05.7 | But otherwise, the top two candidates would face off in the November election. |
| 1:11.7 | Nobody thought Gascon was going to win outright, even his own campaign manager, who hadn't |
| 1:18.1 | planned a watch party for Gascon's supporters. That's what I expected, a ballroom packed with |
| 1:24.2 | swarms of people watching the vote count roll in on big TVs. |
| 1:29.3 | Instead, his campaign arranged for me to meet him in a dark park in downtown L.A., right |
| 1:35.1 | in front of the looming Art Deco-style city hall building. |
| 1:40.5 | It's like, look, this is you going to do, like, a drug deal? |
| 1:43.7 | I first saw District Attorney Gascon from a distance, just his outline, backlit by a street lamp. |
| 1:50.9 | He was wearing a tailored suit. |
| 1:52.9 | His crop of silver hair looked like smoke, billowing in the night sky. |
| 1:57.8 | I walked towards him. |
| 1:59.2 | Hi, how's it going? |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from LAist Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of LAist Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.