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Jessica Corde, whose son’s killer was granted parole last month, slammed L.A. County District Attorney George Gascón and his policies, telling “Justice with Judge Jeanine” on Saturday night that he “doesn’t care” about murder victims.
“I should not have to fight this hard for the justice that had already been given to my son,” the emotional mother told host Jeanine Pirro.
Corde’s son Marquis Leblanc was killed in April 2009 while attending a party in Pomona, Calif., Fox 11 reported, adding that one of the men convicted in his murder had been granted parole in February.
Corde told Pirro her son was beaten up by 14 to 20 people at the party and was then chased for 100 yards.
“They beat him with boards and sticks,” Corde said. “He had blunt force trauma to the head, multiple fatal stab wounds, multiple non-fatal stab wounds, a gunshot wound to the head, they stabbed him in the heart. They robbed him. They pulled his pants down. They left him in the street naked.”
“This is how treacherous these people are,” she stressed.
Corde told Pirro her son was the only Black person at the party.
“He was asking multiple Latino girls to dance and of course, the Latino men were offended. They walked up to him and pointed to one’s neck and said, ‘(Racial slur), do you know where you’re at?'” Corde said, describing what could have instigated the fight, according to Fox 11.
“Everything about this case has been a fight for me,” Corde told Pirro. “Justice did not just come for my son, I had to go for justice.”
“They killed my son over and over and over again in Los Angeles County,” she continued, adding that she has “to fight for my son.”
“This man was granted parole at the parole hearing,” she said. “They didn’t let us speak. We cried. We tried to talk and do the things.”
“He only did 11 years off of a 15-year-to-life sentence,” Corde added.
She said she had no legal support during the hearing because Gascón won’t allow anyone from his office to attend parole hearings, according to Fox 11, and, therefore, she tried to represent herself.
She explained that when it was “time for me to go to the parole hearing, they only gave me one week’s notice.”
“I had no representation and I ended up having to ask for my son’s file so that I could represent my son as if I was a prosecutor,” Corde said. “Instead of being given my impact statement, I was literally trying to do the legal part to help them understand what really happened to my son.”
“I’ve never seen my son’s murder pictures before,” she added as she held back tears. “In one week, I had to have emergency medical care because of that, me having to try to do the prosecutor’s job.”
Gascón is currently facing a recall effort similar to the one faced by California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
FAMILIES OF CRIME VICTIMS PUSH TO RECALL LA DA GASCON, CALLING HIS POLICIES A ‘SLAP IN THE FACE’
Recall organizers held a “victim’s vigil” last weekend to gather the 20 signatures needed from L.A. County residents to formally launch the recall process.
The effort needs to garner just under 600,000 signatures from registered Los Angeles voters, or 10% of the voter roll, to force the newly elected district attorney to run again.
The day he took office in December, Gascón announced a slew of sweeping changes, including stopping the use of sentencing enhancements, restricting when prosecutors can hold defendants without bail, ending the use of the death penalty in L.A. County and banning the practice of trying juveniles as adults.
On Saturday, Corde stressed that “no other family should have to sit there and go through what me and my family did.”
A spokesperson with Gascón’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment. However, in a statement sent to Fox News last week on the topic, Gascón said that the “pain and trauma of losing a loved one is immeasurable.”
“While a minority of victims want the maximum punishment imposed in their case, research shows these views are not shared by a majority of survivors of violent crime, as most survivors don’t find healing by putting another person in a cage,” he continued.
“Additionally, studies show that excessive sentencing practices have exacerbated recidivism leading to more victims of crime.”
Gascón went on to write, “Our system of justice can’t continue to rely on policies that create more victims tomorrow simply because a minority of victims want the maximum punishment imposed in their case today.”
An emotional Corde told Pirro she is calling on Newsom to get involved and help her with her son’s case.
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A spokesperson for Newsom did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment regarding whether he will get involved in Corde’s case.
Fox News’ Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.
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