Sacramento County DA warns about the impact of cuts to misdemeanor unit

Break a window and thieves might catch a break from facing a dedicated prosecutor in the misdemeanor unit at the Sacramento District Attorney's Office, as budget cuts are leading to cuts in that unit.

Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho is issuing a dire warning.

"Right now, we are already running on fumes in many units," Ho said.

Ho testified before the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors over the impact of budget cuts on his department. He said it will force him to eliminate his misdemeanor prosecution unit, which filed 15,000 cases last year alone.

"Your petty theft, your vandalism, your auto burglars, your trespassing," Ho said.

Susan O'Brien, a Sacramento small business owner and a victim of vandalism, said last year someone used a rock to shatter her store windows.

"The windows are pretty large and so it's about $2,000 to get those replaced," O'Brien said.

Sacramento County Supervisor Rosario Rodriguez was the lone no vote on the county budget, protesting the public safety cut, and citing Prop 36's overwhelming statewide support to crack down on crime.

"Voters in California want us to tackle crime, but when you begin to cut the DA's department, or you cut from the sheriff's department, that contradicts what the voters of California wanted," Rodriguez said.

"We are already working on razor-thin margins," Ho said.

The new county budget was passed by a 4-1 vote. It goes into effect July 1. With no misdemeanor unit left, any new misdemeanor cases filed will take a lot longer to prosecute.