ANTIOCH – Contra Costa’s top public defender is calling on the district attorney’s office to release the names of more than 40 Antioch Police Department officers who exchanged or received racist and homophobic text messages, as well as to dismiss any public defender cases involving the embattled law enforcement agency.
In a letter Friday, Public Defender Ellen McDonnell told District Attorney Diana Becton she had received two redacted investigative reports — which were also obtained by this news organization — written by Becton’s senior inspector, Larry Wallace. The reports, McDonnell wrote in the letter, revealed a “deeply entrenched, department-wide culture of racism, homophobia, targeted violence against Black people, selective enforcement of laws against Black people, fabrication of evidence and utter disregard of civil and human rights.”
According to McDonnell’s letter, at least 16 of the 45 involved officers hold leadership roles in the police department. They include detectives, sergeants and lieutenants, she said. This newspaper has reported that several officers, including members of the gang unit, shared racist views and boasted about falsifying police reports and made light of using violence against Black residents.
McDonnell asked Becton to identify the officers who exchanged or received the texts, as well as all public defender and alternate defender pending and closed cases involving the officers. She also requested that Becton release unredacted copies of the reports.
“The public simply cannot have trust or confidence in any criminal prosecution involving APD,” McDonnell said. “No one should be charged with a crime based on the report of a police department so thoroughly riddled with corruption. I request you immediately dismiss all pending public defender cases involving APD, agree to release our incarcerated clients, and cease filing any APD-related cases.”
A spokesperson for the district attorney’s office did not immediately return a message seeking comment on McDonnell’s letter.
The FBI and the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office discovered the text messages while investigating Antioch and Pittsburg police officers for potential civil rights violations involving police violence and dog bites, as well as alleged schemes to obtain bump pay through college degree fraud, accepting bribes to make traffic tickets go away, eliciting false confessions, and drug use and sale.
McDonnell noted that one Pittsburg officer, Armando Montalvo, has been charged with selling AR-15s.
“It has now been over a year since the news first broke of your investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation of criminal conduct by APD and PPD police officers,” she said. “I request information regarding the status of this investigation and its estimated end date.”
In addition, McDonnell asked Becton to identify the Antioch and Pittsburg police officers under investigation by the FBI and DA. She also called on Becton to hand over police reports and other investigative materials without insisting on a protective order.
“The extent of the hatred and lawlessness that has recently been revealed within APD is unfathomable,” McDonnell wrote in the letter. “Continuing to prosecute the victims of APD’s targeted, violent, racist policing while simultaneously shielding the officers’ identities and the full extent of their misconduct and criminal activities is manifestly unjust. I request immediate full discovery and complete transparency.”
McDonnell is scheduled to discuss her various requests with Becton on Monday afternoon.
Check back for updates.
Source: www.mercurynews.com