Whereas Gov. Moonbeam’s realignment program went into effect October 1, 2011, Ka Pasasouk must have been released from prison as a non-violent, non-serious offender for parole supervision by L.A. County probation officers.
KA PASASOUK TO STAND TRIAL ON MURDER CHARGES FOR NORTHRIDGE BOARDING-HOME KILLING OF FOUR
City News Service
August 1, 2013
SAN FERNANDO -- A 31-year-old felon was ordered today to stand trial on murder and other charges stemming from the shooting deaths of two women and two men outside a Northridge boarding home.
San Fernando Superior Court Judge Harvey Giss found sufficient evidence to require Ka Pasasouk to proceed to trial on four counts of murder for the Dec. 2 slayings of Amanda Ghossein, 24, of Monterey Park; Jennifer Kim, 26, of Montebello; Robert Calabia, 34, of Los Angeles; and Teofilo Navales, 49, of Castaic.
The criminal complaint includes the special circumstance allegation of multiple murders. Prosecutors will decide later whether to seek the death penalty against Pasasouk, who also faces five counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and one count each of attempted murder and possession of a firearm by a felon.
He is due back in court for arraignment Aug. 14.
Pasasouk was arrested in Las Vegas one day after the killings, and later returned to Los Angeles.
On Dec. 19, he was ordered held without bail for allegedly violating his probation in a drug case and the terms of his release from an earlier prison term.
Questions were raised after Pasasouk's arrest about why he was not in custody at the time of the killings. Despite requests by probation officers last September that he be jailed, Pasasouk was permitted to enter a drug- diversion program in his methamphetamine possession case.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office conducted an internal review into the handling of the case and conceded that a mistake was made.
Pasasouk -- who has multiple convictions dating back to 2004 -- had been released from prison in January 2012.
1 comment:
Realignment had nothing to do with solving problems or increasing public safety. It merely shifted the bodies from state custody to county custody, along with a modest funding package which some counties looked on as a cash cow. It was a crass and politically expedient way of moving the problem (and it is was and is a problem) from the state's plate to the counties. And it worked.
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