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Judge drops charges against Alameda cops in Gonzalez death

Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price
Thomas Hawk
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Flickr / Creative Commons
Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price

Manslaughter charges against two Alameda police officers involved in the 2021 death of Mario Gonzalez in police custody were dismissed Monday by Alameda Superior Court Judge Scott Patton.

In a 13-page order, Patton said the office of Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price had “jeopardized the prosecution” by failing to file the necessary paperwork in time.The Berkeley Scanner reported that the DA’s office filed involuntary manslaughter charges against the officers, Cameron Leahy and James Fisher in April, just before the three-year statute of limitation expired. However, the filing did not include an arrest or a bench warrant, as required by law.

Judge Patton, who served as a prosecutor for two decades in the DA’s office, slammed Price’s office for its “rushed and careless work…in filing this complaint.”Two years ago, Price's predecessor, Nancy O’Malley did a review of the Gonzalez case and found that there was not enough evidence for criminal charges against officers Leahy, Fisher and Eric McKinley.

However, Price decided to go ahead with the charges after hiring an expert, who determined that the 26-year-old Gonzalez had been kept in a prone position during his seven-minute interaction with police.

An Alameda County Coroner’s Office autopsy found that Gonzalez died of the “toxic effects of methamphetamine,” as well as stress from restraint, morbidity and alcoholism.

All three of the officers involved in arresting Gonzalez remain on duty, but McKinley still faces manslaughter charges.

Price, a former civil rights attorney, who campaigned for the DA’s office promising “reformative justice,” has been embattled since taking office nearly two years ago. She faces a recall election next month.

Sunni M. Khalid is a veteran of more than 40 years in journalism, having worked in print, radio, television, and web journalism.