Former LA deputy DA attacked by same suspect in Kim Glass assault: 'The writing was on the wall'
Irene Lee emphasized the need to 'restore the balance for victims' in Los Angeles
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A former deputy district attorney in Los Angeles, who was attacked by the same man who allegedly assaulted Olympian Kim Glass, warned the "writing was on the wall" since the suspect is a repeat offender.
Irene Lee, who was attacked by the suspect in 2020, discussed the need for victim advocacy and why she believes Glass' attack was "entirely predictable and preventable."
"When I was attacked, he was already on three grants of felony probation," Lee said on "America's Newsroom" Monday. "He had attacked three women, two of them with a golf club and a hammer, and he threatened to harm them. And another incident that was about a year prior to my attack where he had gone after a young woman with a metal pipe and struck her numerous times causing injuries."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}LA COUNTY DA GASCON ANNOUNCES CHARGES AGAINST KNOWN FELON ACCUSED OF ATTACKING OLYMPIAN KIM GLASS
Kim Glass attends Maxim Electric Nights presented by DIRECTV at City Market on February 12, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (David Livingston/Getty Images)
"I believe that there were enough red flags before the court to say… he can't be out there on the streets," she continued. "He's a danger, and so I believe that the writing was on the wall."
Former volleyball Olympian Glass was attacked in Los Angeles in broad daylight earlier this month with a metal bolt.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The suspect, 51-year-old Semeon Tesfamariam, faces up to 11 years behind bars and was out on parole at the time of the attack. Tesfamariam was convicted of felonies in 2018 and 2019.
"We have to restore the balance for victims in our system," Lee said. "There are so many law-abiding citizens in our society. Most of us follow the rules, and we trust and live by faith that they're going to be implemented fairly and justly."
"Unfortunately, right now, at this time, there's a climate of preferential treatment for violent offenders over that of law-abiding citizens," she continued.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Meanwhile, Los Angeles County DA George Gascon's office has come under fire in recent months for what critics call soft on crime policies amid surging violence in city streets.
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Gascon's office plans to end the "Lifer Unit," which is the department responsible for notifying victims of information pertaining to their assailants' parole hearings, by the end of 2022.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"There's just this climate, this feeling that people will get off without any real consequence and that people are focusing on the violent criminals over the victims who are being daily victimized, who don't have a platform to speak out like Kim does, or now that I do," Lee said. "And there is just this climate and this fear that's out there on the streets."