LOS ANGELES (CN) --- A Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge on Thursday ordered David Lacey, husband of former LA District Attorney Jackie Lacey, to take anger management classes and sentenced him to 100 hours of community service for pointing a gun at Black Lives Matter protesters who knocked on his front door in March 2020.
David Lacey, a former investigator with the DA’s office, cannot own a gun during the court-ordered diversion period and will also need to take a gun safety training course. The California attorney general’s office charged David Lacey with three counts of misdemeanor assault against California State University, LA professor Melina Abdullah and fellow activists Dahlia Ferlito and Justin Andrews Marks.
Protesters staged a vigil outside the Laceys' Granada Hills home one day before LA County voters headed to the polls in March 2020. Jackie Lacey was up for reelection and organizers behind the vigil said they wanted to meet with her to discuss police shootings of unarmed people.
Jackie Lacey said she and her husband heard people outside their home at around 5:30 a.m., and when their doorbell rang David Lacey went downstairs with his handgun. Video posted on Twitter by Abdullah shows David Lacey open the door and aim the gun at the group.
A woman’s voice off camera says the protesters want to meet with the then-district attorney. David Lacey said, “Get off my porch. I will shoot you.”
Off camera Abdullah asks, “Can you tell Jackie Lacey we’re here?" David Lacey responds, pointing the gun at someone off camera: “I don’t care who you are. Get off of my porch, right now. We’re calling the police right now.”
The California attorney general’s office filed charges against David Lacey this past August.
At the time of the incident, Jackie Lacey said, “My husband acted in fear for my safety after we were subjected to months of harassment that included a death threat no less than a week earlier. Protesters arrived at my house shortly after 5 a.m. while I was upstairs. My husband felt that we were in danger and acted out of genuine concern for our well-being.”
Weekly vigils held outside Jackie Lacey’s downtown offices were organized by local activists including family members whose loved ones were shot and killed by police. Leading up to her re-election, Jackie Lacey attended one in-person candidate debate in January 2020 where activists shouted her down for not charging officers for killing unarmed people of color.
Jackie Lacey --- the first woman and first Black person elected as LA County DA --- lost her re-election to former San Francisco DA George Gascón.
On Thursday, Judge David Stuart said he would grant David Lacey’s request to enter a diversion program in lieu of jail time. He will need to complete 100 hours of community service, 13 anger management classes and a gun safety course. Stuart ordered David Lacey to return to court by Nov. 8.
“I’d like to see the gun safety course completed and some progress on the community service and anger management by (November),” Stuart said during the short hearing in a San Fernando courtroom.
David Lacey said he surrendered his handgun to the Los Angeles Police Department.
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