An Alameda County judge dismissed charges against two of the three officers who faced criminal prosecution for their role in the 2021 death of Mario Gonzalez, a 26-year-old man who stopped breathing after being pinned to the ground during an arrest.
Judge Scott Patton ruled that Alameda County prosecutors failed to file the necessary paperwork to bring charges against Alameda officers James Fisher and Cameron Leahy within the three-year statute of limitations for involuntary manslaughter. Defense attorneys had sought to dismiss the charges, citing a lack of arrest warrants that would have officially started the prosecution.
The case against the third officer, Eric McKinley, can proceed because his clock was paused by a trip abroad, the judge ruled.
In a 13-page order published Monday, Patton — who worked in the Alameda County district attorney’s office for two decades — called the statute of limitations the “bedrock” of civil and criminal law.
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“A defendant bringing a challenge because of a violation of the statute of limitations is asserting a substantive due process right, not a technical or procedural violation,” Patton said in his decision.
Because the encounter between the officers and Gonzalez took place on April 19, 2021, the judge determined that the statute of limitations expired on that date this year. Although Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price announced the charges on April 18, prosecutors would have had to file an arrest warrant or take several other steps for a felony prosecution to “commence,” Patton said. That never happened.
Friends, family and supporters of Mario Gonzalez gather outside of the Alameda Police Department on April 27, 2021. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
However, Patton rejected the motion to dismiss charges against McKinley, who claimed that Price “fraudulently induced him to appear” at an arraignment, which marked the start of his prosecution.
The judge refuted any “outrageous fraudulent conduct” on Price’s part. According to the decision, the district attorney’s office decided to forgo a bench warrant in favor of a “notice to appear” as a “courtesy to officers.”
In his decision, Patton still slammed prosecutors for a “mischaracterization that a summons had been issued,” which he cited as “further evidence of the rushed and careless work by the District Attorney’s office.”
The statute of limitations ruling did not apply to McKinley, who left last December on a five-month mission trip to South Africa. Prosecutors had more time to file charges against McKinley, the judge said, because his time out of the country paused the clock.
McKinley’s attorney, James Shore, did not respond to a request for comment.
Gonzalez’s family was “heartbroken” after hearing the judge’s decision, said advocate Barni Qaasim, who organizes with the Justice for Mario Gonzalez community group.
“It’s so disappointing that charges were dropped not because of a lack of evidence but because the judge prioritizes procedural technicality over the pursuit of justice,” Qaasim said.
The district attorney’s office said it is “unfortunate that all three defendants will not be held accountable” in an email to KQED on Tuesday, noting that the court’s decision was not based on any lack of merit in the case.
“Our prosecutors will proceed to file an amended complaint against Officer McKinley,” the office said.
The judge’s decision is another twist in a high-profile case that has drawn comparisons to the death of George Floyd, whose murder by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020 became a flashpoint in the national conversation over racial justice. It’s another blow to Price, the embattled district attorney facing a recall election this November over criticism of her progressive policies.
Price, who was elected in 2023 on a platform of police reform, reopened Gonzalez’s case through her administration’s new Public Accountability Unit. She announced charges against the officers three days after the recall campaign against her qualified for the ballot, drawing criticism from an attorney for one of the officers that the case might have been rushed in “a political effort.”
The charges reversed a decision by Price’s predecessor, Nancy O’Malley, who in 2022 declined to charge the officers after concluding there was no evidence of wrongdoing.
Gonzalez was unarmed when 911 dispatchers received a call of a man behaving strangely in an Alameda park.
“He seems like he’s tweaking. But he’s not doing anything wrong. He’s just scaring my wife,” a 911 caller said in dispatch audio recordings. Body cam footage showed a dazed and confused Gonzalez, who appeared to not understand he was being arrested. About eight minutes after officers began arresting Gonzalez, he stopped breathing.
An initial autopsy by the Alameda County coroner noted contributing factors to his cardiac arrest, including the “toxic effects of methamphetamine,” stress related to altercation, obesity and alcoholism. A second independent autopsy requested by attorneys representing Gonzalez’s family found that his death was “a result of restraint asphyxiation.”
“What happened to Mario could happen to anyone,” Qaasim said.
The advocate also added that Gonzalez’s family would “continue to escalate” and hoped that prosecutors would appeal the judge’s ruling.
The next hearing is scheduled for Friday at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse in Oakland.
Oct. 10: The original version of this report said Alameda County prosecutors failed to file necessary paperwork within the three-year statue of limitations for voluntary manslaughter. The three Alameda officers were charged with involuntary manslaughter.
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