Questions are being raised about Pima County Attorney Laura Conover's leniency on violent crime after court records showed the downtown Tucson mass shooting suspect was on probation for a 2024 shooting incident.
David Leroy French, 21, is accused of opening fire into a crowd near East Congress and North Sixth Avenue after an argument between two groups erupted into gunfire at 2 a.m. on Sunday, July 19.
Nine people, including two who were on Empire Pizza's patio, were shot.
Nearby Tucson police officers heard the shots and saw French running away from the scene with a gun in hand. After giving verbal commands an officer opened fire, striking French.
Evidence markers lay near items of clothing as part of the Tucson Police Department investigation where nine people were injured in a shooting in downtown Tucson early Sunday morning. A man was taken into custody.
French and the nine others were taken to a local hospital in critical condition. French was arrested on suspicion of nine counts of aggravated assault with a firearm, nine counts of aggravated assault and discharging a firearm at a structure.
But if the prosecution hadn't dropped a dangerous offense allegation that was part of the case against French for the 2024 incident, he would have still been in prison as of Sunday, said David Berkman, former chief criminal deputy county attorney in Pima County.
The dangerous offense allegation would have meant a mandatory prison sentence for French, even with a plea agreement.
However, the prosecutor offered no sentencing suggestion to the judge presiding over the case, instead deferring to the court's judgement.
For a charge that could carry between two and nearly nine years in prison or five years' probation, French was given a four-year probation term and 100 hours of community restitution.
It's unusual for the prosecution to not offer a sentencing suggestion, Berkman said.
"It's odd because it's not what a prosecutor is supposed to do," he said. "A good prosecutor says, 'I think he should go to prison.'"
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A forensics photographer from the Tucson Police Department takes photos of the scene where nine people were injured in a shooting in downtown Tucson early Sunday morning.
As former chief criminal deputy county attorney, Berkman oversaw criminal prosecution for Pima County.
"He (Berkman) ran the office before I got here, and he did it in a completely different way," Conover said in an interview with the Star. "I'm proud to say we don't do it the way he did it. Ours is data driven and data informed rather than his old form of tough on crime. And twice now, the community has overwhelmingly kept me in office under my policies."
Prosecution initially pursued the dangerous offense allegation, but it was dropped as part of the plea agreement for French, Conover said. She noted, however, because of how many people work for her office and the case volume, no one there has much memory of that particular case.
The decision was made as a way to encourage French to plead guilty and avoid the case going to trial, Conover said.
"We gave him barely any benefit at all to get the felony conviction to get a chance at prison," she said. "Otherwise, we'd have to do, I don't know, 20,000 trials a year. We cannot take every shots fired to trial. We cannot. No one can. The court can't do that."
"I'm not second guessing the judge at all," she said. "It was one of 100 cases on his calendar that day, and he gives the kid a shot at probation. He was on that supervision, and the probation department had not alleged a single infraction or violation."
A second chance
Court records show the earlier incident began at about 5 a.m. on Oct. 6, 2024, when a then 19-year-old French and some of his friends were hanging out at a self-serve car wash near West Valencia Road and South Sixth Avenue
An employee at the car wash asked them to leave because they were being loud.
French, who had taken a rifle out from his pants, and two of his friends confronted the employee, court records say.
One friend told the employee not to call the police. Someone else from the group struck him on the back with a bottle, court records say.
The employee ran away from the three towards the median of a nearby road.
Surveillance footage from the incident shows French pointing the rifle at the employee and firing in his general direction before leaving on foot, court records say.
Six days later, Tucson police located and arrested French.
When interviewed by police, French said he did shoot the rifle, but he couldn't recall shooting at anyone in particular. He noted, however, he was drunk at the time and couldn't remember exactly what happened.
On April 8, 2025, French pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument, a class three felony. His sentencing was slated for May 12, 2025.
His family, friends and even his employers wrote letters to J. Alan Goodwin, the presiding judge, to tell him the early morning incident doesn't represent the person they know French to be.
"David is incredibly fortunate and grateful that no one was hurt, no one was injured in this case, and he knows that his actions were just foolish," Nicholas Brereton, French's defense attorney, said during the sentencing. "I don't think he offers really any excuse for his behavior other than whipped up hubris and drinking and trying to show off and impress a bunch of other guys."
Although he grew up with both parents in prison, he now had a strong support system of friends and family who would keep him on the right track, Brereton said.
"I think certainly that the background of his childhood is the underlying cause of why he's here today, but I think going forward into the future, it's going to be the reason why he doesn't come back," Brereton said.
The root of the problem, Brereton argued, was French acting out because he was struggling with family dynamics changing after his mother got out of prison. French had been living with his aunt from a young age and had recently moved in with his mother after she was released.
"We're catching David at a young enough age, I think, where he's made a mistake early, but we can intervene here and prevent that from being his trajectory," Brereton said. "He knows he doesn't want that to be his future."
"He's on the right path now, Judge," he said. "I think a custodial sentence would do nothing but derail that path he's already made for himself."
"I'd like to say I'm sorry to the victim and to my family for all the harm I caused," French said to Goodwin. "I just want to say I'm sorry to the courts, and I appreciate your time."
"I will be honest with you: I am very much on the fence with your case," Goodwin said before pausing to deliberate. "I am going to give you a shot at probation."
Shortly after the July 19 shooting, a petition was filed with the court to revoke French's probation.
