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Judge to consider dismissing manslaughter charges vs. Alameda officers in Mario Gonzalez death
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.
OAKLAND, Calif. - A judge on Friday said he would issue a written ruling next month on whether to dismiss 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 said he'd make his decision by Oct. 11 after he heard arguments from the officers' attorneys, who 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.
It's not clear how the judge will rule, but he asked most of his critical questions to the prosecutors.
Patton questioned Deputy District Attorney Simone Spector why her office didn't file the paperwork in February, after they received a second coroner's report attributing Gonzalez's death to "restraint asphyxia" and not methamphetamine and morbid obesity – conditions the first coroner ruled contributed to the 26-year-old's April 18, 2021, death.
The judge took note that a use-of force expert report by a "qualified expert" who "ultimately determined that [police] didn't use the correct procedures and should have been trained to know that what they were doing was very dangerous."
"That presumably was in your possession 60 days before this complaint was filed," Patton said to Spector from the bench. "I'm just wondering why the 60 days? I mean, why wait till the day before the statute of limitations? And this goes to the prosecutor upholding the highest ethical standards and pursuing justice, not pursuing individuals."
Finally, the legal precedent prosecutors' submitted, he noted, came from a county other than Alameda County and was not completely on point because it wasn't about the statute of limitations.
"So, I'm curious as to why so much of your brief relies on that," Patton asked of the prosecution.
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 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 the second autopsy.
Price did not attend Friday's court hearing.
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. They are also due in court on Oct. 11.
Leahy and McKinley are still with the Alameda Police Department. Fisher now works for the Contra Costa County Sheriff.
Civil rights attorney (L) Adante Pointer and Mario Gonzalez's mother, Edith Arenales, stand on the courthouse steps. Sept. 20, 2024
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, rallied outside the Oakland courthouse before the hearing to fight the dismissal and urge the judge to continue with a trial against the police.
"I don't hate police," she said. "I hate when people don't do their job. We don't know what will happen, but they cannot be officers no more."