Judge finds Contra Costa DA filing practices racist, dismisses gang charges in murder case

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Stephany Maurice and anti-racism police protesters walk down Pine Street to the Wakefield Taylor Courthouse in Martinez, Calif., on Friday, May 19, 2023. They are protesting Antioch police officers who sent racist text messages and in favor of the people who were named in the texts. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)

MARTINEZ In an unprecedented statewide ruling, a Contra Costa judge on Friday dismissed gang charges against four men under California’s Racial Justice Act, ruling that county prosecutors disproportionately targeted the Blacks with sentencing enhancements that open the door to life in prison without parole.

It is a case already under heavy scrutiny as two of the defendants were directly referenced in racist text messages sent by Antioch police who investigated their alleged crimes. The texts, part of a much larger scandal involving racism, alleged civil rights violations and dozens of officers implicated, shed light on the men’s injuries during their arrests and made reference to black people in explicitly biased and hateful way.

Friday’s decision by Contra Costa judge David Goldsteins did not consider any of the racist texts. Rather, Goldstein relied on a decade of data, what he called a significant statistical disparity showing that gang charges are more often laid against black people. This stunning development paves the way for any Black person who has faced or is facing these charges at Contra Costa over the past decade to challenge them in court.

I assure everyone that I in no way take this decision lightly, Goldstein said in court.

Goldstein is also expected to hear arguments soon about whether the Antioch officers’ racist texts were a separate violation of the Racial Justice Act, a new state law intended to eliminate racism in superior courts. This week, county prosecutors agreed that the texts had.

To make his decision on Friday, Goldstein relied on data that prosecutors and defense attorneys largely agreed on that showed black people were 6-8% more likely to be accused of enhancements. related to special circumstances than people who were not black. These enhancements, alleging gang membership and added to the underlying criminal charges at issue in a case, can significantly increase an accused’s sentence.

Goldstein rejected gang enhancements against four East Bay men, Eric Windom, Terryon Pugh, Keyshawn McGee and Trent Allen, who are accused of fatally shooting a man for the benefit of an Oakland gang. His decision does not affect the murder, attempted murder and conspiracy with which they are charged.

Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe, left, and civil rights attorney John Burris chat during an anti-racism police protest outside the Wakefield Taylor Courthouse in Martinez, Calif., Friday, May 19, 2023. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)

Friday marks the second time Contra Costa prosecutors go into California history for violating the Racial Justice Act. Last October, Judge Clare Maier ruled that a county prosecutor used race-coded language that evoked racial stereotypes of African-American men during a two-defendant murder trial and threw out convictions for murder of the two men.

The Maiers decision specifically dealt with a portion of the law that refers to prosecution statements during trial, while the Goldstein decision cited a different paragraph that covers the charging practices of the entire prosecutor’s office.

Evan Kuluk, an attorney with the County’s Office of Alternate Defenders and an attorney in both cases, told this news agency that the impact of today’s ruling is a recognition that racial bias infects every step of the court process. penal.

The Goldstein decision challenges dozens of other similar cases filed at Contra Costa dating back 10 years. Contra Costa DA Diana Becton, the first black person and first woman to hold the position in the county’s 173-year history, says her office now plans to revisit some of those cases with this new ruling in mind.

The District Attorney’s Office recognizes that today’s ruling is important in addressing systemic racial disparities within the criminal justice system, Becton said. The court’s decision provides guidance, and my office will review similar cases to promote fair and equitable prosecutions.

For many Contra Costa defense attorneys, Friday’s decision was seen as vindication after years of asking Contra Costa prosecutors to check their own filing decisions. In 2019, Becton partnered with the Vera Institute for a project to identify biases implicit in how cases are prosecuted, but has yet to release the underlying data.

Chief Public Defender Ellen McDonnell said Goldstein’s decision highlights the unfair billing practices that too often result from the role of bias implicit in our legal system.

Testimony in this case demonstrates that the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office has no policies, procedures, or guidelines for imposing life without parole enhancement, resulting in an implicit bias to influence parole decisions. indictment, McDonnell said in an email to reporters. This has a disparate and detrimental impact on black people and leads to the dramatic overrepresentation of black people in our county’s criminal justice system.

An hour after Goldstein’s decision, demonstrators took to the streets of Martinez to protest the Antioch Police Department in a march that started downtown and ended at the Wakefield Courthouse Taylor. Attendees included several plaintiffs in a recently filed civil lawsuit seeking federal oversight of Antioch police, as well as Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe, who called for all officers who sent texts to be fired. racists.

Civil rights attorney John Burris speaks during an anti-racism police protest outside the Wakefield Taylor Courthouse in Martinez, Calif., Friday, May 19, 2023. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)

The racist texts were uncovered after the FBI seized the phones of several officers as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into more than a dozen current and former law enforcement officers who worked in Antioch and in Pittsburgh. They include messages between officers while surveilling the four alleged gang members in March 2021.

Officer Eric Rombough, who repeatedly called black people gorillas, bragged and then kept his promise to use violence against the men, according to a report by a senior DA inspector. The gang unit officer then sent his colleagues photos showing two of the defendants in their hospital beds, the texts show.

With the FBI’s criminal investigation still looming, Attorney General Rob Bonta last week announced an investigation into Antioch police policies and practices, saying internal data suggested civil rights abuses.

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