Steve Cooley

Cooley instituted a reorganization of the District Attorney's Office.[8] On April 9, 2003, he announced that he was closing the office's Environmental Crimes unit.[9] The closure left only one attorney to cover all environmental crimes in Los Angeles County. The reorganization also included the creation of the Justice System Integrity Division, Forensic Science Section and Victim Impact Program. Cooley changed the office's policy on California's Three Strikes Law, with the stated purpose to assure proportionality in sentencing and even-handed application countywide. Throughout his time as District Attorney, Cooley continued his efforts against the Three Strikes Law in favor of proportionality, including supporting ballot measures that would have altered Three Strikes. The blowback from those efforts ultimately led Cooley to leave the California District Attorneys Association in 2006.[10]

As District Attorney, Cooley first made the headlines in the prosecution of Winona Ryder for shoplifting. Cooley filed four felony charges against her and assigned a team of eight prosecutors and paralegals in what was described by British newspaper The Guardian as a "show-trial."[11] Cooley was subsequently admonished by the California bar for his actions.

In 2006, Cooley was the most notable law enforcement official to publicly oppose Proposition 83, better known as "Jessica's Law," a measure named after Jessica Lunsford, a 9-year-old who was raped and murdered by a paroled sex offender in Florida. Cooley criticized Jessica's Law as being "not carefully crafted," adding that "Not liking sex offenders is a good thing and a popular thing, but when you are creating something to deal with them you have to think it through."[12] California voters passed Proposition 83 with 70.5% of the vote.

During his second term, Cooley's office was unsuccessful in the prosecution of Robert Blake for the murder of his wife Bonnie Lee Bakley. When interviewed about Robert Blake's acquittal, Cooley publicly called members of the jury who acquitted Blake "incredibly stupid" and refused to apologize for the statement.[13]

According to the Los Angeles Times, advocates for battered women criticized Cooley's handling of Deborah Peagler's case and others like it. In eight out of eight cases, he opposed the use of a California law that allows battered women in prison to be given a new hearing if evidence of domestic violence was omitted during the original proceedings. Cooley had initially supported Peagler's release from prison, but then withdrew his written offer to reduce the battered woman's prison sentence.[14]

Just a week before the 2008 election that he ultimately won, Cooley was attacked for violating Jessica's Law and making a deal with defense attorneys and judges to postpone seeking tougher sanctions against a group of serious sex offenders that had completed their prison terms. Rather than seeking indefinite hospitalization for some offenders, as allowed under a November 2006 ballot measure, Cooley only sought two years.[15]

In June 2008, Cooley was elected to a third term, defeating his challengers, Steve Ipsen, President of the L.A. County Prosecutors Union, and Albert Robles, an attorney and professor. Cooley was heavily criticized for his opposition of Proposition 9 (Marsy's Law: The Victim's Bill of Rights). Cooley told the L.A. Times, just before voters went to the polls over "Marsy's Law" that the measure, which ended up passing, would sweep aside "decades of legislative scrutiny and judicial review." It plays to voters' feelings, selling itself with a female victim's name, "like a cherry on the ice cream."[16]

The L.A. Times editorial desk wrote on April 28, 2008 of Cooley, "It is noteworthy that he criticized predecessor Gil Garcetti in 2000 for seeking a third term and promised that he would serve only two." But in 2008, he sought a third term, despite his promise.[17]

One of Cooley's 2008 re-election opponents, Albert Robles, faced misdemeanor charges filed against him by the D.A.'s office in November 2007. Robles was charged with printing a pair of political mailers without a return address and expending more than $100 cash in a political campaign. Robles accused Cooley of direct involvement in the charges brought against him because of a personal vendetta and to affect the outcome of the June 2008 D.A. election.[18] Cooley denied those allegations.[18] In October 2008, a jury found Robles not guilty of all charges after deliberating for only 20 minutes,[18][19] and he was re-elected a month later to his seat on the board of the Water Replenishment District of Southern California.[20]

Cooley was sued in federal court by the Association of Deputy District Attorneys. The suit was filed for allegedly violating the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.[21] Judge Otis D. Wright II described District Attorney Cooley's actions as "striking and rampant". Judge Wright issued a preliminary injunction ordering Cooley to desist from behavior seen as discriminating and/or retaliating against employees on the basis of union membership.[22]

The L.A. Times reported that "Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley waged an illegal anti-union campaign in which he and his staff harassed and unfairly disciplined union officers." Thomas S. Kerrigan, an L.A. County hearing officer for the Employee Relations Commission heard months of testimony and found that veteran deputy district attorneys and prosecutors under Cooley, with outstanding evaluations, were retaliated against. Kerrigan claimed that Cooley had conducted a "deliberate and thinly disguised campaign" aimed at destroying the union.[23] The Metropolitan News-Enterprise reported that Kerrigan exchanged emails with an ERCOM executive showing biased ex-parte communications and the removal of emails from materials provided in discovery.[24]

In 2009, Cooley gained coverage all over the country when, along with federal authorities, he requested that the Swiss government arrest and extradite movie director Roman Polanski, who was traveling to the Zurich Film Festival. Polanski had been a fugitive for 31 years after originally fleeing the United States in February 1978 after pleading guilty to unlawful sex with a minor in Los Angeles. Swiss courts dismissed the extradition request in July 2010 and released Polanski.[25]

Cooley, J.D. Fredricks (1903–1915) and Buron Fitts (1928-1940) are the only Los Angeles County district attorneys to serve three complete terms. Cooley did not run for a fourth term in 2012.

In 2009, Cooley declared his opposition to medicinal marijuana dispensaries that sell over-the-counter in Los Angeles County.[26]

His administration aggressively prosecuted political corruption in the City of Los Angeles as well as such communities as Bell, Vernon, Beverly Hills, Compton, Inglewood, South Gate, Temple, and Irwindale among many others. Cooley investigated state Senator Rod Wright[27] for living outside of his elected district, and Inglewood Mayor Roosevelt F. Dorn for a low-interest loan from the City of Inglewood. Dorn and Wright were both convicted.[28][29]