In Alameda County, the District Attorney alleges that officials involved in capital punishment trials may have committed unlawful acts.
Earlier in the year, a federal judge prompted the district attorney's office to scrutinize each of the 35 capital punishment situations in the county following evidence that indicated prosecutors intentionally concealed Black and Jewish jurors from a 1995 capital murder trial.
Inspection of the cases has exposed a deep-seated pattern of wrongdoing involving numerous instances, as asserted by Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price on Tuesday. She declined to reveal the exact number of cases, citing the ongoing investigation.
Price's office suspects that some of the misconduct, in addition to violating the Constitution, could potentially be criminal. She disclosed this during a press conference at her office in Oakland.
The irregularities were detected by an Alameda County deputy district attorney who was getting ready for the appeal of death row inmate Ernest Dykes. He was found guilty of the 1993 murder of 9-year-old Lance Clark.
Last week, CNN published images assumed to be notes scribbled by prosecutors during Dykes’s trial, which included remarks singling out potential jurors based on their race, primarily Black or Jewish. One potential juror in the Dykes case file is described as a “Short, fat troll.” Similar to other Black potential jurors – and exclusively Black potential jurors – her race is highlighted. The letters “FB” are noted next to her name, apparently referring to her gender and race. Another juror has the word “Jewish” underlined on their questionnaire. Further down, a handwritten note reads: “I liked him better than any other Jew. But no way.”
Ultimately, no Black or Jewish jurors were chosen for the trial.
Now, Clark’s family claims that prosecutors informed them Dykes could be freed from prison upon unearthing evidence of jury tampering in his case. The district attorney’s office declined to comment.
The death penalty cases under review span from the mid-1980s to 2007. These cases involve people convicted of mass shootings, serial killings, rapes, and murders.
Brian Pomerantz, an attorney for Dykes and other capital cases, believes that some of those on death row might now be released. “For some, that may be the solution,” he said. “And for some, that should be the solution.”
Families of victims in the 35 cases now have to face the prospect that those convicted could be released, resentenced, or face a new trial. Price stated that her office is engaging in settlement negotiations with the prisoners’ lawyers and the state attorney general’s office.
The comprehensive review of cases is expected to last till the end of the year, according to Price.
Price is up for recall election in November, and according to the San Francisco Chronicle, members of the Alameda County prosecutors’ union voted strongly in favor of the recall, as stated in an email sent to union members on Monday.
It remains unclear how many prosecutors in the district attorney’s office belong to the union, nor what percentage of members supported the recall vote.
When questioned about the vote during Tuesday’s press conference, the district attorney ascribed the union’s actions to their office's probe into prosecutorial misconduct.
“The entire world is watching, horrified by the prosecutorial misconduct we have uncovered in this office, and our efforts to hold prosecutors accountable for this kind of misconduct and other ethical lapses have met with resistance from the prosecutors union before we even arrived,” Price stated.
CNN has asked the prosecutor’s union for comment on the vote.
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In light of these revelations, the families of victims affected by the misconduct are deeply concerned about the potential release of those convicted. The ongoing investigation and settlement negotiations involving Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price's office have garnered significant attention, with some union members even calling for her recall.
