Stanislaus prosecutor to handle federal cases
Tom Brennan, a 10-year veteran of the Stanislaus County district attorney's office, likes to tell Modesto juries that gangbangers need to be put away because they don't care whom they hurt when they get loaded, steal cars and shoot at rivals.
The prosecutor wins some and loses some.
But now Brennan can take his arguments to the next level, because he was sworn in as a special assistant U.S. attorney Thursday during a ceremony in Sacramento.
The designation will let the deputy district attorney take a handful of cases to federal court, where sentences can be stiffer. The thought of winning even tougher punishments prompts the prosecutor to launch into a speech, offering the kind of rhetoric that got him noticed in the first place.
"I give them the same pity, empathy and respect they give their victims," Brennan said, referring to defendants who often are barely past puberty when they claim a color and pick up a gun. "My goal is to take them off the streets as long as possible."
Brennan, 42, joins two prosecutors from Sacramento County who take drug cases to federal court. But the number of "cross deputized" local prosecutors may grow, according to McGregor Scott, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California, which stretches from Redding to Bakersfield.
A prosecutor from Yolo County is expected to join the small cadre soon. Scott said he would like to tap prosecutors from Bakersfield, Fresno and Stockton as well, because his staff is not large enough to handle all of the cases that local authorities send their way.
Federal prosecutors are known for cracking down on white-collar crime and drug traffickers because such cases usually are handled by the FBI. Local jurisdictions also funnel child pornography and online predator cases to U.S. attorneys to take advantage of strict federal sentencing guidelines.
Scott said his staff noticed Brennan at a gang summit a year ago, where Brennan gave an impassioned speech saying the authorities should make no apologies when they take a tough-on-crime approach with gang members who can't be rehabilitated.
The designation process, which included a lengthy background check, has been in the works ever since.
"Tom was on a panel for us and really caught our eye in terms of his vigorous approach to the prosecution of gang members," Scott said.
District Attorney Birgit Fladager said her office hopes to use the new partnership to disrupt the lives of gang members who control street activity from the state prison system.
They will target "shot callers" who run criminal operations built on drug sales but avoid incarceration by letting youngsters do their dirty work. Felons who are caught with guns and have documented ties to a gang could be candidates as well.
"We want to get the guns out of the hands of these gangbangers," Fladager said, "because obviously they shoot indiscriminately at any moving target."
Rather than going to state prison with their buddies, where they can climb in the ranks of a gang, such offenders could be sent to North Dakota or Arkansas to serve their time. And their time behind bars would be longer in a federal penitentiary.
In state courts, a felon caught with a gun could get 16 months or two or three years in prison, and he or she may be released after serving half of that time. In federal court, the same offender could get a five-year sentence and must serve 85 percent of that time.
Murder and attempted murder cases would remain in Stanislaus County Superior Court because penalties in state and federal courts are similar. Offenders who have serious or violent felonies on their records also would stay in Modesto because California's "three strikes" law provides for stiff punishments.
Brennan, who will continue to carry a full load of cases in Modesto, will attend a training course for federal prosecutors before he gets started. And he must research jurisdictional rules as he screens cases because some crimes will not qualify for federal prosecution.
He is expected to take a half-dozen cases to U.S. District Court in Fresno annually, as long as Fladager and Scott give the green light. The prosecutors said they plan to exercise discretion, saving stiff federal penalties for offenders who have long-standing gang affiliations.
The plan, they said, is akin to convicting mob boss Al Capone of tax evasion.
"If you can't get the guy for a homicide, you can't get the guy for a drive-by shooting, but there's a traffic stop and he's got a gun, and he's a felon, that's the guy we're going to take," Scott said.
Bee staff writer Susan Herendeen can be reached at sherendeen@modbee.com or 578-2338.
This story was originally published February 24, 2008 at 3:15 AM with the headline "Stanislaus prosecutor to handle federal cases."