Molly Miller and Kary Antholis

On today’s podcast we offer a special reprise presentation of the interview that Molly Miller and I conducted with Los Angeles District Attorney candidate George Gascón back in February of this year during the primary campaign. In March, Mr. Gascón and incumbent Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey received enough votes to move on to the general election runoff, which culminates on election day one week from today, Tuesday, November 4. (You can find the two-part interview that I just conducted with Ms. Lacey here (Part 1) and here (Part 2). Kary Antholis: Welcome to Jury Duty, our weekly podcast...

We’ve noticed something. The more time we spend in the criminal courts building, the more familiar faces have taken on meaning. The elegant “swan woman” is Karen, the Spanish translator. The friendly security guard on the ninth floor is Carlito who writes children’s books. The bespectacled blonde with a massive bag is Terri, the meticulous reporter from City News. And then there are the judges. The bench officers weren’t originally the subjects of particularly intense interest to us. They are the proverbial referees of the courtroom, and we’ve been reporting on the game. The judge’s power has been circumscribed by the...