On Monday, August 3, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed misdemeanor charges in Los Angeles Superior Court against David Lacey, husband of Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey, for pointing a gun at several Black Lives Matter protesters.
The complaint includes three counts of assault with a firearm, one each for three protesters he encountered: Justin Andrew Marks, Dahlia Ferlito, and Black Lives Matter cofounder Melina Abdullah.
The incident took place on March 2, a day before incumbent DA Lacey squared off against a pair of progressive challengers in the hotly contested March 3 primary election. A group of around 30 protesters had gathered outside the Laceys’ Granada Hills home. When the three individuals named in the complaint approached the home and rang the doorbell, video from the scene appears to show David Lacey opening the door with a gun in hand, pointing it at the activists, and shouting, “I will shoot you. Get off my porch.”
#BREAKING This morning Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey’s husband pulled a gun out on Black Lives Matter activists who protested his wife in front of their house. @BLMLA pic.twitter.com/wnCFMMvaWV
— Jasmyne Cannick (@Jasmyne) March 2, 2020
At the time of the incident March, Lacey staged a press conference, saying that while her husband was “profoundly sorry,” she didn’t think her home was an appropriate place for a protest.
“I do not believe it is fair or right for protestors to show up at the homes of people who dedicate their lives to public service,” Lacey stated. “It was just him and I in that house and we really didn’t know what was about to happen.”
DA Lacey’s tough-on-crime-but-not-on-cops reputation has long raised the hackles of activists. In the wake of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May, Lacey has become the focus of near-constant protests, both downtown and outside the home she and husband David share. On July 3, around 80 protesters gathered outside their San Fernando Valley home without incident.
The March incident didn’t stop Lacey from performing exceedingly well in the March primary, but she wasn’t able to avoid a November runoff against opponent George Gascón.
RELATED: Madonna Joins L.A. Protests to Oust District Attorney Jackie Lacey
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