OAKLAND — A judge will soon decide if manslaughter charges against three Alameda police officers in the 2021 death of Mario Gonzalez should be dismissed because they were filed without an arrest warrant.
The decision could disarm last-minute efforts by District Attorney Pamela Price to pursue a case involving the death of a man in police custody that drew comparisons to the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.
At a hearing Friday, Alameda County Judge Scott Patton said he will issue a ruling on the dismissal motion by Oct. 11, the next court date for Alameda police officers Eric McKinley, Cameron Leahy and James Fisher.
The officers’ defense attorneys have argued that prosecutor Leah Abraham failed to secure an arrest warrant from Judge Elena Condes when charges were filed on April 18 — a day ahead of the third anniversary of Gonzalez’s death. Attorneys representing the officers claim Price’s office violated the statute of limitations by failing to secure critically needed paperwork in a scramble to beat that key deadline.
On Friday, Patton seemed to agree: Those charges, he said, were backed by probable cause to only detain the three cops, and not arrest them.
“That cannot be interpreted to mean there was probable cause to arrest somebody,” Patton said in court, “because its intention could be based on reasonable suspicion, which is a lower burden of proof.”
The DA’s office, on the other hand, had said prior to Friday’s hearing that they’d pursued the “notice to appear” — and not an arrest warrant — out of courtesy to the officers and as a matter of routine procedure.
Patton also questioned why the DA had waited to file charges a full 60 days after a “very qualified” expert had determined that the Alameda cops didn’t follow proper police procedure in detaining Gonzalez.
“It’s unfortunate that it took as long as it did,” responded prosecutor Alexis Feigen Fasteau, who said she had just joined the office and wasn’t as involved at the time. Abraham, who filed the charges, is no longer with the DA’s office.
“But it was not due to a mishandling on the district attorney’s part,” Fasteau continued. “There were a series of events that caused it to take longer.”
Even if he grants a dismissal of the charges, Patton could leave the opportunity for prosecutors to file an amended complaint if he agrees, as Fasteau argued Friday, that the initial charges sufficiently reflected the DA’s intent to arrest the officers.
Gonzalez died on April 19, 2021 after being held for several minutes under the weight of three police officers, who had tackled the 26-year-old after he resisted being handcuffed on suspicion of having open containers of alcohol on public.
The Alameda County Coroner’s Office later ruled that his death was a homicide, citing “stress of altercation and restraint,” while also noting the “toxic effects of methamphetamine,” “morbid obesity” and “alcoholism” as contributing factors.
Former District Attorney Nancy O’Malley cleared the officers of wrongdoing later that year, calling their response “objectively reasonable.”
Price, who succeeded O’Malley last year, promised upon taking office to re-examine Gonzalez’s death — an effort characteristic of the DA known for her progressive approach to criminal justice.
An independent autopsy ordered by Gonzalez’s family later determined the primary cause of death was “restraint asphyxiation.” It also found that the methamphetamine levels in Gonzalez’s body were too low to have contributed to his death.
Shomik Mukherjee is a reporter covering Oakland. Call or text him at 510-905-5495 or email him at smukherjee@bayareanewsgroup.com.