OAKLAND — The attorney for a former San Leandro police officer charged with manslaughter in a 2020 death of Steven Taylor wants a judge to toss the case, amid claims of “unscrupulous” behavior by a since-departed Alameda County prosecutor.
The request on behalf of Jason Fletcher — who has since retired from the San Leandro Police Department — comes less than two months after the officer’s attorney, Michael Rains, accused one Alameda County prosecutor of “unethical” behavior.
Rains now wants the entire case dismissed, as opposed to merely delayed. If the request is granted, it would mark an abrupt end to the first prosecution of a law enforcement officer in the Bay Area over an on-duty death of a civilian since BART Officer Johannes Mehserle was charged with the fatal shooting of Oscar Grant on New Year’s Day 2009.
In a filing, Rains said the case had been undone by “underhandedness” by former Alameda County prosecutor Zachary Linowitz, who oversaw the case under former District Attorney Pamela Price. Rains claimed the prosecutor “deliberately suppressed” opinions from multiple experts who thought the officer’s actions were justified and legal.
“Since the beginning, this prosecution has been infected with unethical political posturing and plagued with misconduct,” Rains wrote in the filing, adding that the prosecution “misled the community into believing this was a crime when it was not.”
Linowitz has vehemently denied the claims in the past, calling them “100% false,” and part of “a corrupt playbook in order to ensure that police prosecutions fail.” He doubled down in an email Monday — framing the accusations as “deeply misleading,” and the alleged violations “nothing more than routine, mundane prosecutorial work.”
“In any major case, prosecutors consult experts, some formally and some informally, evaluate their input, and determine what is useful and admissible at trial and what needs to be disclosed to the defense,” said Linowitz, who left the district attorney’s office early this year to start his own firm. “That’s exactly what I did here, and it is standard practice across the country.”
The case stems from the April 18, 2020, death of Taylor, who was fatally shot while trying to steal an aluminum baseball bat and a tent from a San Leandro Walmart. Only about 40 seconds passed between the time Fletcher encountered Taylor, 33, and when the fatal shot was fired, according to a lawsuit against the city of San Leandro by the slain man’s family.
It still remains uncertain who might prosecute the case.
Last year, a judge ordered California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s staff to oversee Fletcher’s case, after expressing concerns that Price and her office were too biased to prosecute it. A judge is expected to reconsider that motion Friday, following Price’s removal from office and a suggestion by state prosecutors that the case be returned to Alameda County, where Ursula Jones Dickson, a former judge, is now the district attorney.
Rains asked Alameda County Superior Court Judge Thomas Reardon to consider dismissing the case at that same hearing Friday.
Dismissing the case would send a “very dangerous message” to the community, said Romaine Charite, a member of the Oakland Alliance Against Racist And Political Repression. While having not yet reviewed Rains’ motion, Charite stressed Monday that allowing the case to be tossed would show that officers in the region could operate with “impunity.”
“The message it would send is that Alameda County doesn’t care about bringing justice to families impacted by police brutality,” Charite said.
Jakob Rodgers is a senior breaking news reporter. Call, text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at 510-390-2351, or email him at jrodgers@bayareanewsgroup.com.