Hundreds of misdemeanor suspects in Alameda County, California, have been let off the hook because prosecutors failed to review their cases in time.
Representatives for District Attorney Pamela Price told the San Francisco Chronicle that there has been a backlog of cases since the embattled official, currently fighting a recall attempt, took office in January 2023.
They told the outlet that Price’s office has been struggling to keep up with the heap of cases that were passed on to them by the previous administration when Nancy O’Malley was in office – which she has denied.
Documents reviewed by the Chronicle showed that since the beginning of 2023, more than 1,000 misdemeanor criminal cases exceeded the statute of limitations, leading them to expire without a prosecutor’s decision.
In Alameda County alone, more than 600 cases have passed the statute of limitations.
Of the criminals who will now avoid punishment, one is a driver who crashed into three parked cars with a 0.22 percent blood-alcohol level, a man who attempted to return around $800 in Home Depot merchandise he didn’t buy and a woman who was found in a stolen car with brass knuckles, according to the outlet.
Representatives for District Attorney Pamela Price told the San Francisco Chronicle that there has been a backlog of cases since the embattled official took office in January 2023
In Alameda County alone, more than 600 cases have passed the statute of limitations, according to data provided by the Chronicle. (pictured: streets in Oakland)
The suspects in the affected cases were either issued a misdemeanor citation or attested by police, who filed reports and sent them off to the DA’s office for review.
After that, it’s up to prosecutors to determine if the criminals should be charged and for what, but if the officials do not come up with an answer for misdemeanor cases in a year, they expire.
Despite staffers sharing that more than 1,000 criminals will walk free because of the monumental downfall, Price’s office could not officially ‘confirm or deny’ the figures, ‘or provide their own,’ the outlet reported.
Though the Chronicle could not confirm the statistics, the outlet combed through about 12 reports from a list, finding data that supported the prosecutors’ claim.
The reports were either filed by Emeryville Police or the Oakland Police Department more than a year ago, while court records did not reveal cases filed against named suspects presented to the outlet.
Former staffers working under Price revealed that cases started accumulating just after she became the DA.
The unnamed former employees said that when Price took her position, 360 cases had already been declined after missing their deadlines, while an additional 646 cases are currently pending.
Of the 360 cases, 62 percent were submitted by police officers after the start of last year, with Price in office, the sources said.
The crimes committed in the pending cases have passed the one-year mark and will likely be tossed out.
Despite staffers sharing that more than 1,000 criminals will walk free because of the monumental downfall, employees from Price’s office could not ‘confirm or deny’ the figures, ‘or provide their own’
One of the affected cases involves two Alameda cops who, if filed in time, were set to be charged with involuntary manslaughter in the tragic death of Mario Gonzalez.
Gonzalez, 26, died on April 19, 2021 after three officers pinned him to the ground while responding to multiple police calls.
The two officers set to be charged have been let off the hook because of the backlog, while the third cop remains charged, the Chronicle reported.
Despite the officers being let off, when Price took office, she proclaimed that she would reopen the case after O’Malley cleared all three of them of wrongdoing in 2022.
In response to Price’s office placing blame on Nancy O’Malley’s previous work, she said she informed Price early on that she would be ‘available’ to get her up to speed on the pending cases
Price previously said that she would consider charging the officers and promised ‘accountability’ for their misconduct.
The data provided by the Chronicle only represents misdemeanor police reports dealt with by prosecutors at Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse in Oakland.
Under that courthouse, there are 12 agencies, including the Albany Police Department and Oakland Police Department.
The outlet clarified that the data does not include reports from smaller courthouses in the county or domestic violence cases.
Although many misdemeanor criminals often avoid jail time in the Bay Area, prosecutors typically determine other consequences for people, including counseling, rehabilitation services and driving courses.
Melissa Dooher, who previously worked as a prosecutor in Alameda County, said that during her 23 years there, it was rare for a case to be thrown out because a decision was not discussed or made in time.
Despite that, she explained why this might have occurred, citing ‘understaffing’ and lack of ‘bandwidth.’
The data provided by the Chronicle only represents misdemeanor police reports dealt with by prosecutors at Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse in Oakland
‘But if it’s just literally sitting in a pile, whether that’s electronic or a physical file, the only real reason it happens is due to understaffing, and the current charging DA is just literally not having the time and bandwidth to deal with it,’ she said.
Dooher added that when cases started to pile up, oftentimes, prosecutors would come together to tackle the issue.
Now, with the current cases expiring, Dooher expressed her concern for the people who have been arrested for driving while intoxicated.
‘If you have enough DUI convictions, it becomes a felony. And of course, in the meantime, if you’re going untreated, if you’re going unpunished, if you’re not on probation, you’re basically a danger to the community if you re-offend,’ she told the Chronicle.
Interim Chief of Prosecutors Evanthia Pappas, who joined Price’s team in June 2024, told the outlet that the district attorney ‘was not provided any sort of roadmap or transition when she came in.’
According to Pappas, after entering her new role, Price instantly appointed an assistant district attorney to help review the slew of cases.
Interim Chief of Prosecutors Evanthia Pappas, who joined Price’s team in June 2024, told the outlet that the district attorney ‘was not provided any sort of roadmap or transition when she came in’
‘As soon as she found out [about the backlog] she has been addressing it, branch by branch, and is currently working on the backlog at Wiley Manuel,’ Pappas said.
Meanwhile, the anonymous former employees told the Chronicle that the prosecutors at Wiley W. Manuel courthouse have also been unable to keep up with all of the cases, leaving about 3,000 untouched as of May.
By September, that number increased to 4,000, the staffers told the outlet. Pappas could not confirm these numbers.
In response to Price’s office placing blame on O’Malley’s previous work, she said she informed Price early on that she would be ‘available’ to get her up to speed on the pending unreviewed police reports.
‘I committed a lot of staff whose only job was to look at those [cases], and they were assigned to [work with] different police departments,’ O’Malley said.
‘We got reports every two weeks from the branch heads. And not one person ever said, “By the way, we need more help because we can’t get through the cases”.
‘The first day that the results of the election came out, I sent [Price] a letter and said, “This is a complicated office. We have a lot of programs, I will make myself available to you. Please bring your staff over so we can go over things.” They gave us one hour, and that was it,’ she added.
DailyMail.com contacted Price’s office for comment.
