With Price gone, new Alameda DA should oversee fatal police shooting case, AG says

Under Pamela Price, the courts recused her office twice in less than three months from high-profile cases. Such extreme remedies are rare.

With Price gone, new Alameda DA should oversee fatal police shooting case, AG says
A 2023 Facebook post by the Alameda County DA's Office about the Steven Taylor case, which led, in part, to the office's recusal from its prosecution. Alameda County DA's Office

The "dramatic" recall of Pamela Price removed the need to recuse the entire Alameda County DA's office from prosecuting a fatal police shooting, the state attorney general's office says.

In a recent filing, set to be argued this month, state prosecutors say the case should now go back to DA Ursula Jones Dickson, who has shown no sign of bias.

Jason Fletcher, then a San Leandro police officer, shot Steven Taylor during a call to Walmart in April 2020. Fletcher is now facing criminal and civil charges in connection with the shooting, including a $10 million lawsuit from Taylor's family.

"Unlike with Price, there is no evidence that DA Jones Dickson campaigned on this case, spoke about it to the press or on social media, raised money based on it, or ignored the intent of prior court recusal rulings," the AG's office wrote in the June 30 filing. "Indeed, the entire basis for recusal no longer exists."

Prosecutor Zachary Linowitz (right), DA Pamela Price (center) and Deputy DA James Conger, then-head of the Public Accountability Unit, with two members of the Steven Taylor family. The DA's office posted the photograph and announcement on its Facebook page in October 2023. It no longer appears to be visible.

It's been more than a year since Alameda County Superior Court Judge Thomas Reardon granted the recusal request by Fletcher's attorney, Michael Rains.

In his decision, the judge found that Price and her prosecutor, Zachary Linowitz, "failed to stay within the appropriate guardrails of commenting publicly about a pending case, causing a seriously grave conflict and raising concerns about whether they would provide defendant with due process," the AG's office wrote.

The ruling put the state attorney general's office, under AG Rob Bonta, in charge.

Before Price was recalled by voters in November 2024, her office appealed the recusal order, resulting in a decision, in January, directing the judge to take another look at the case due to the change in office leadership.

In its recent motion, the AG's office noted that Price and Linowitz (who has since gone into private practice) are no longer affiliated with the Alameda County DA's office "in any way."

The AG's office argued that the "changed circumstances of the recall and replacement of former DA Price" mean "the burden is once again" on Fletcher to establish the likelihood of bias and unfair treatment under the new DA.

State prosecutors also noted that "there were no substantive hearings, procedural milestones or any changes" in the case under Price, who made no adjustments, such as adding violations to increase potential penalties, when she was in charge.

Her predecessor, Nancy O'Malley, had been the one to charge the case originally.

The recusal of an entire district attorney's office is rare, the filing noted, due to the high bar defendants face to prevail.

Under Pamela Price, the courts recused her office twice in less than three months from high-profile cases.

As of Monday, neither the DA's office nor Fletcher's defense team had responded to the attorney general's filing, according to public records.

The case is set to appear before Judge Reardon on July 25.

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The Berkeley Scanner was the first to report this news.
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