upper waypoint

Alameda County Leaders Will Soon Pick the Next DA After Pamela Price Recall

Save ArticleSave Article
Failed to save article

Please try again

An individual holds up a sign during a Pamela Price recall campaign kickoff rally in Oakland on June 8, 2024. Alameda County supervisors will announce finalists for district attorney this week after Price was recalled less than two years into her term, with public interviews scheduled for Jan. 21. (Gina Castro/KQED)

The Alameda County Board of Supervisors this week will announce the shortlist for a new district attorney, two months after Pamela Price was ousted from the office less than two years into her term.

On Thursday, the board will select at least three finalists from the pool of 15 candidates who applied for the role. Once the selections are made, the finalists seeking to replace Price will be publicly interviewed during a special meeting on Jan. 21.

From there, the Board of Supervisors will deliberate before announcing its decision on Jan. 28. The newly appointed district attorney is set to be sworn in by Feb. 4 and, according to the county charter, will serve until the next general election, which is scheduled for June 2026.

Sponsored

Voters will then have the opportunity to select a new district attorney to serve out the remainder of Price’s term, which was set irregularly for six years due to a state law that aligned district attorney elections with the presidential primary.

After Price was recalled, Chief Assistant District Attorney Royl Roberts took over as interim district attorney while the Board of Supervisors conducted its search. Interestingly, Roberts was not among the 15 people who applied, although he had previously begun the process of filling out paperwork.

Candidates being considered include:

  • Miiko Anderson, former senior deputy district attorney in Fresno County
  • Annie Esposito, assistant district attorney in Contra Costa County and former senior assistant DA in Alameda County
  • Simona Farrise Best, senior assistant district attorney in Alameda County’s Consumer Justice Bureau
  • Amilcar Ford, assistant district attorney in San Francisco and former deputy district attorney in Alameda County
  • Venus Johnson, chief deputy attorney general in the California Department of Justice and former director of public safety in Oakland
  • Ursula Jones Dickson, Alameda County Superior Court judge and former deputy district attorney in Alameda County
  • LaTricia Louis, deputy county counsel in Alameda County and former assistant district attorney in Alameda County
  • Elgin Lowe, senior deputy district attorney in Alameda County
  • Kwixuan Maloof, assistant district attorney in Alameda County and former San Francisco deputy public defender
  • Ocean Mottley, a private attorney in San Francisco and senior staff attorney with the nonprofit Bay Area Legal Aid
  • Arvon Perteet, deputy attorney general in the California Department of Justice and former federal prosecutor
  • Yibin Shen, city attorney in the city of Alameda
  • Ian Seth Steward, executive director of the nonprofit Crucible in Oakland and former assistant district attorney in San Francisco
  • Scott Tsui, former assistant district attorney in Santa Clara County
  • Jimmie Wilson, deputy district attorney in Alameda County

The search for a new district attorney stems from the campaign to recall Price, which started only six months after she took office in 2023. Headed by the group Save Alameda For Everyone, or SAFE, the recall effort gained traction as some voters became frustrated with the office’s progressive bent and Oakland’s rising crime rates.

Other criticisms included Price’s mismanagement of old cases — misfilings in the case of Mario Gonzalez’s death allowed the statute of limitations to pass for two of the officers involved — and allegations that her office had failed to prosecute misdemeanor cases and to support victims’ families.

The recall campaign was endorsed by all of the county’s law enforcement unions and the union representing Alameda County prosecutors. Price’s predecessor, Nancy O’Malley, also supported the recall.

Price “created her own directives that were not in the best interests of the citizens of Alameda County as a whole,” said Brenda Grisham, one of the recall’s organizers and principal officer of SAFE. “Not just the families of the murdered victims. The business owners, anyone who had been the victim of crime, her directives just were not in their best interest.”

After leading the recall effort, SAFE and a coalition of law enforcement groups and community organizers are recommending three candidates to lead the district attorney’s office. In a letter to the Board of Supervisors on Friday, the group listed Alameda County Superior Court Judge Dickson, Contra Costa County Assistant District Attorney Esposito and former Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Ford.

“They need to be balanced,” Grisham said of whoever is appointed to the role. “It’s not about what you want to see. It’s about what the county needs as a whole. That’s what we’re looking for.”

According to Grisham, the next district attorney should be familiar with the role and should also be prepared to run again in 2026 with the experience they gain over the next two years.

She continued: “I’m hoping that they can go in and sort out the things that need to be sorted out.”

California News
Know Your Rights in 2025 as a Trans Student in California Schools
Know Your Rights in 2025 as a Trans Student in California Schools
californianews
Read more
Can Medical Schools Funnel More Doctors Into the Primary Care Pipeline? - KFF Health News
Can Medical Schools Funnel More Doctors Into the Primary Care Pipeline? - KFF Health News
Read more
A week from hell: See how LA fires destroyed neighborhoods from coast to foothills
A week from hell: See how LA fires destroyed neighborhoods from coast to foothills
californianews
Read more
lower waypoint
next waypoint