One of the suspects accused of brutally killing a 68-year-old woman outside an upscale shopping mall in Newport Beach last week has reportedly received no prison time from the office of left-leaning Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón because he had previously been arrested on a felony charge.
Citing interviews and records, The Los Angeles Times reported. The murder suspect in question, 26-year-old Leroy Ernest Joseph McCrary, was on probation for stealing a Rolex at gunpoint in Santa Monica in 2022, but avoided prison time after Los Angeles County prosecutors agreed to a three-year suspended sentence.
The paper added that Gascón’s opponent in the November election, Nathan Hochman, said Gascón’s “misconduct appears to have cost another life.”
Orange County District Attorney’s Office Said McCrary struck New Zealand tourist Patricia McKay and her 69-year-old husband at the Fashion Island mall on July 2, before dragging her body 65 feet during an attack on the couple. The judge also said McCrary deserves the death penalty if convicted of special circumstance murder.
Photo courtesy of The Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images
McCrary also faces felony charges of attempted second-degree robbery and fleeing by reckless driving, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office said, adding that he has previous felony convictions in Los Angeles County for burglary, criminal threats and robbery.
The Times noted the following about the 2022 incident:
Santa Monica Police Lt. Erica Akulfi said security camera footage of the incident showed McCrary holding a gun to the man’s head on Broadway, after which he and an accomplice demanded the man’s watch, she said.
Police said McCrary’s DNA was also found on the victim’s shirt, which he had taken during the robbery.
Prosecutors used DNA testing to charge McCrary and Donta Baker, who was arrested by Los Angeles police a month after the Santa Monica shooting, with robbery, according to court records reviewed by The New York Times.
McCrary pleaded not guilty to one count of robbery in 2023 and was subsequently sentenced to three years in prison by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Kathleen Brougham, according to the Times. However, the paper reported that Judge Brougham suspended the sentence and sentenced McCrary to two years’ probation and also ordered him to perform 200 hours of community service.
The Times added that McCrary’s suspended sentence ran concurrently with another suspended sentence he received after being convicted of possessing a firearm as a felon in a separate case being investigated by the LAPD.
Judge Brougham ordered a probation report prepared before McCrary’s sentencing, but the court’s clerk was unable to locate it despite a request from The Times, the paper said. Probation reports typically provide a sentencing recommendation along with a defendant’s probation eligibility, the paper added.
The Times reported that Los Angeles County prosecutors defended their handling of the case involving the theft of a Rolex at gunpoint, saying the case had “significant problems of proof.”
More from the paper:
A spokesman for the local prosecutor’s office said the investigation into the case was hampered by the inability to identify the defendant on CCTV footage. Two witnesses were unable to identify the suspect, he said, noting that the robber’s face was not visible on the footage because he was wearing a mask.
She also said prosecutors were unable to identify the items in the suspect’s hands and that confirmatory DNA testing was not done on the robbery victim’s shirt, leaving its accuracy in doubt.
“As a result of these matters, management… approved the plea agreement, [him] “The sentence will be suspended with probation in state prison,” the district attorney’s office said in a statement, according to the Times.
Gascón’s opponents told the paper that the handling of the case shows how his office has been mismanaged, adding that Nathan Hochman, Gascón’s opponent in November’s election, said Gascón’s “misconduct appears to have cost another life.”
anything else?
The two other suspects in last week’s brutal murder in Newport Beach are Malachi Darnell and Jayden Cunningham, both 18 years old, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
(From left) Jayden Cunningham, Malachi DarnellImage courtesy of the Orange County (California) District Attorney’s Office
According to the District Attorney’s Office, MacKay and her husband were waiting for their car after shopping at the mall when a white Toyota Camry pulled up next to the couple. Two masked suspects, later identified as Darnell and Cunningham, jumped out of the car and attacked MacKay’s husband, pointing guns at his head and demanding his watch, then pushing him to the ground as passersby fled, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
When the couple failed to retrieve her husband’s property, Cunningham allegedly threw McKay to the ground, stole her shopping bags and dragged her across the road in front of the getaway car driven by McCrary, according to the prosecutor’s office.
While McKay was lying in front of the Camry, McKay’s husband jumped in front of the car to try to stop his wife from being run over, but McCrary accelerated the car with Darnell still inside, pushing McKay’s husband out of the way, running over McKay and dragging her body 65 feet, the prosecutor’s office said.
Cunningham ran to catch up to the getaway vehicle while McCrary was dragging McKay under the car, the DA’s office said, and a good Samaritan tried to stop Cunningham from getting back in his car. Darnell is accused of firing shots at the good Samaritan from the getaway vehicle and McCrary is accused of slowing down to allow Cunningham to jump in the getaway vehicle, then fleeing in the vehicle, according to the DA’s office.
Darnell and Cunningham also face the death penalty if convicted of special circumstance murder, the district attorney’s office said. Darnell has been charged with felony counts of attempted second-degree robbery, attempted murder, personal use of a firearm and aggravated discharge of a firearm, and Cunningham has been charged with one felony count of attempted second-degree robbery, the district attorney’s office said, adding that Cunningham has also been charged with one felony count of attempted second-degree robbery.
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