OAKLAND — A lawyer who has accused former District Attorney Pamela Price of political extortion will likely soon have access to written communications exposing how Price handled day-to-day business as Alameda County’s top prosecutor.
In a court hearing Friday, the Alameda County Public Defender’s Office revealed plans to file a subpoena for Price’s personal phone records, as it attempts to prove that Price imposed sentencing enhancements against a client whose attorney refused to work against Price’s recall. Judge Thomas Reardon indicated he would grant the subpoena and expects it be complied with by the year’s end.
The controversy centers on the murder conviction of a man named Jamal Thomas, who was found guilty of fatally shooting his former neighbor following a lengthy campaign of harassment, vandalism and threats. After the conviction, Thomas’ trial lawyer filed a sworn declaration accusing Price of using her position as a political cudgel.
Voters later booted Price from office in an unprecedented recall election on Nov. 5. Her last day on the job was Dec. 5.
The following day, Kathleen Guneratne, an assistant public defender, aired her intention to file the subpoena during a court hearing. The subpoena is only expected to target communications that Price had related to her job as district attorney, as well as the murder case against Thomas.
Price will be expected to comply with the subpoena by Dec. 30, Reardon said in court Friday. The DA’s office and Price did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
Written communications by Price during her tenure as DA are public record under state law. She assumed office in January 2023 for what was supposed to be a six-year term, until voters recalled her by a nearly two-to-one margin.
It’s unclear whether Price discussed Thomas’ case in text messages, but the defense hopes to at least verify a sworn declaration by Thomas’ trial lawyer, Jennie Otis, who says Price imposed a sentencing enhancement one day after the two spoke on the phone on June 23 about Price’s efforts to oppose the recall. Otis said she voiced her concerns about Price’s handling of the office and declined to donate to or support her campaign, only to be informed the following morning that the office would be pursuing a gun enhancement.
Sentencing enhancements, which are added to charges and can lengthen prison sentences, were a rarity during Price’s tenure. One of her first acts as DA was to change the office’s policy to require prosecutors to approve enhancements with higher-ups before filing them. It was part of her pledge during the 2022 campaign to reduce over-incarceration.
Also on Friday, Reardon ordered the district attorney’s office to hand over any emails or phone records from Price’s county-issued cell phone related to the alleged retaliation. The order encompassed two time periods — June 20-24, as well as Nov. 20 to Dec. 5. Reardon’s order also included emails and texts written by Price’s former second-in-command, Otis Bruce Jr.
Bruce announced his plans to leave the office in late June, just days after the alleged retaliation; his last official day was July 13.
Ironically, Price’s former office released some of her text messages in court filings on Monday about a different case, where she refers to a defendant as a “MF” — shorthand for “motherf—er” — and asks for “more info” about the case in question. The defendant Price referred to is Mario Juarez, a political operative and local Democratic Party insider who was charged with grand theft for allegedly bouncing checks for political campaign mailers opposing Sheng Thao’s leading opponent in the 2022 Oakland mayoral race.
The text messages were filed by an Alameda County prosecutor to oppose a motion by Juarez’s attorney, which alleges something similar to the claims made by Thomas’ defense team. Juarez has claimed Price attempted to seek a $25,000 political donation from him just days before filing the case against him in January 2024.
The prosecution motion, while arguing that Price’s handling of the case was proper, strangely includes a sworn declaration by Deputy District Attorney Kate DeFerrari that implies it wasn’t. DeFerrari wrote that another prosecutor, Angelina Clay, recommended dismissing the case against Juarez to Deputy District Attorney Briggitte Lowe, but that Bruce stepped in and prevented that action.
Clay had based her recommendation on a belief that the case against Juarez couldn’t be proved beyond a reasonable doubt, DeFerrari wrote.
“Mr. Bruce told Ms. Lowe not to do anything — like dismiss the case — because District Attorney Pamela Price would not be happy with that,” DeFerrari wrote in her declaration. She later added, “The bottom line is that this case was handled different from other cases.”