Judge to consider dismissing charges vs. Alameda officers in Mario Gonzalez death

OAKLAND, Calif. - A judge on Friday is scheduled to consider dismissing involuntary manslaughter charges filed against three Alameda police officers who were involved in the death of Mario Gonzalez three years ago as they pinned him to the ground. 

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Scott Patton will hear arguments from the officers' attorneys, who have filed motions saying the district attorney's office didn’t file all the necessary paperwork on time to meet the three-year statute of limitations.

While the DA’s Office filed the charging documents on time, the officers' attorneys are arguing that the secondary piece of paperwork – the arrest warrant – was not filed within the legal timeframe. 

Prosecutors filed counter-motions saying they did not err on this technicality, and met all the necessary requirements. 

The officers involved are Cameron Leahy, James Fisher and Eric McKinley. They are being represented by attorneys Alison Berry Wilkinson, Julia Fox and James Shore. 

In 2022, Then-DA Nancy O'Malley cleared them of any criminal wrongdoing, finding their actions to be reasonable when they held the 26-year-old Gonzalez to the ground on his stomach for several minutes after he didn't respond to their request to show them his ID.

The officers then returned to work. 

Alameda police officers officers (L-R) James Fisher, Cameron Leahy and Eric McKinley appear in court to face involuntary manslaughter charges. 

However, the current DA, Pamela Price, who took office in January and campaigned on a platform of holding police officers accountable, decided to take a different approach.

In April, she charged them with involuntary manslaughter, based off a second autopsy conducted that found he died of restraint asphyxia. 

The first autopsy conducted on Gonzalez attributed his death to the toxic effects of methamphetamine, morbid obesity, alcoholism and stress of restraint. 

Gonzalez's arrest and death were high profile in the Bay Area and reminded many of the Minneapolis death of George Floyd.

In fact, Gonzalez's situation occurred just hours before the jury began deliberating the charges against former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin. 

The next day, the jury convicted Chauvin of murder and manslaughter for pinning Floyd to the pavement with his knee his neck in a case that touched off a national "defund the police" movement and a push for progressive police – and prosecutorial – reform. 

The officers were placed on leave a second time after Price charged them; and their lawyers said they plan to plead not guilty if the charges aren't dismissed. 

Leahy and McKinley are still with the Alameda Police Department. Fisher now works for the Contra Costa County Sheriff. 

Edith Arenales of Oakland holds a picture of her son, Mario Gonzalez, who was killed by Alameda police on April 19, 2021. Photo: Lisa Fernandez 

Price's office declined comment on the filing issue. 

Attorney Michael Cardoza, who used to be an Alameda County prosecutor and now has his own firm, believes that Price waited too long to file, and should have given herself more time before the deadline to rectify any mistakes.  Technically, a deputy district attorney filed the paperwork. 

"Had they done it a couple of days before, a week before, a month before, they would have seen their error and they could have corrected it," Cardoza said.

Cardoza said if he were the judge, he would grant the dismissal. 

"It seems pretty straightforward to me, they didn't file or follow proper protocol," Cardoza said.

Meanwhile, Gonzalez’s mother, Edith Arenales, community organizations including the Anti Police-Terror Project, Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice, or CURYJ, and 67 Sueños, plan to rally outside the Oakland courthouse to fight the dismissal and urge the judge to continue with a trial against the police.