Another Los Angeles County prosecutor has reached a tentative settlement in a lawsuit alleging he was retaliated against for running afoul of the reform policies of former District Attorney George Gascón.
A lawyer for Deputy District Attorney Isidoro Baly filed court papers last Thursday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Upinder S. Kalra notifying him of the “conditional” accord with the expectation a request for dismissal will be brought by Oct. 1. No terms were divulged and final approval is up to the Board of Supervisors.
In the suit filed in September 2023, Baly alleged he was wrongfully demoted from his job as assistant head deputy in charge in charge of the resentencing unit in 2022 in retaliation for complaining about Gascón’s orders that he withhold some information from judges during resentencing hearings.
In February 2022, Baly sent Ken Lynch, a then-acting head deputy, an email stating that he was obligated provide contextual information to the resentencing judge about an inmate’s potential risk to the public and that failing to do so would be illegal, the suit stated.
On the same day he expressed his concerns, Lynch told him he was being transferred to a parole revocation assignment, according to the suit, which further states that Baly was moved again a month later to a position in the Van Nuys courthouse that did not have a supervisory role and was a “dead-end job with limited to no opportunity to advance or promote.”
Deputy District Attorneys Michael Matoba, Maria Ramirez and Victor Rodriguez are among other Gascón-era prosecutors to have also reached tentative settlements in their suits against the county.