OAKLAND — In a blistering order that referred to as into query the Alameda District Legal professional and Oakland police division’s dealing with of key proof in a intercourse abuse case, a choose dismissed prison fees earlier this month in opposition to a person accused of raping his personal daughter.
Alameda County Superior Courtroom Choose Delia Trevino’s 16-page order, issued Oct. 11, throws out youngster molestation fees in opposition to an East Bay man who’d been accused of sexually abusing his daughter and abandoning her at an area park. This newspaper is just not naming the defendant as a result of the fees have been dismissed and on account of a coverage to guard the identities of alleged victims of kid molestation in circumstances involving members of the family.
Trevino wrote that Alameda County prosecutors had both failed to supply the protection with key proof that prompt the defendant was harmless, like DNA take a look at outcomes that did not hyperlink the defendant’s DNA to a rape take a look at or the lady’s DNA to the defendant’s genitals. The choose blasted the “overwhelming and outrageous” failures by prosecutors and chided Oakland police investigators for “careless dealing with” of studies that also couldn’t be positioned on the time of dismissal.
“This courtroom doesn't make this determination flippantly. It's unlucky that a now 8-year-old sufferer is not going to have her day in courtroom,” wrote Trevino, a former Alameda County prosecutor of 17 years. “As a result of failures of the prosecution workforce, a jury is not going to get to determine the end result of this case. The courtroom should shield the integrity of the justice system.”
The prosecution had been dealt with by two veteran deputy district attorneys, William Boselli — who carried out the July preliminary listening to the place the defendant was ordered to face trial — and John Mifsud, who turned over a lot of the important thing proof to the protection simply days earlier than trial. Mifsud argued that the late disclosures have been enough to protect the case, however Trevino stated the fabric might have and will have been given to the protection earlier than the preliminary listening to, and if it had there was a “cheap chance” the fees would have been dismissed.
“The proof pointed to carelessness on the a part of the prosecution workforce with mishandling of proof, lack of effort at acquiring related discovery, poor response to protection discovery requests, and inadequate comply with by,” Trevino wrote. She added that every one this amounted to a so-called “Brady” violation, a authorized time period for a disclosure failure that's extensively often known as the mom of all prosecutorial blunders, as a result of it could result in severe fees being dismissed.
In response to an inquiry from this newspaper, the Alameda County District Legal professional’s workplace issued a written assertion saying Trevino will obtain a written response from prosecutors. The assertion says prosecutors are “distressed” that a man they nonetheless consider is responsible is not going to be placed on trial, and notes that the workplace processes greater than 20,000 circumstances yearly.
“On this explicit case, it was difficult to safe all the discovery, partly as a result of some objects have been despatched on to the courtroom, to not the district lawyer or protection lawyer,” the assertion reads. “We're additionally working with the Oakland Police Division relating to their report administration to make sure that the District Legal professional, and by extension, the protection lawyer, obtain all discovery in a well timed method.”
However Trevino’s order notes that Boselli possessed a number of the related studies again in September 2021. She wrote that Boselli falsely assumed the fabric had already been turned over to the protection, even if no discovery receipt was within the file.
“There is no such thing as a justification for why 79 pages of discovery have been stored from the protection till after the preliminary listening to and delivered simply on the eve of trial — a full yr after the case had begun,” Trevino wrote.
The case was filed after a girl introduced the 7-year-old lady to the UCSF Benioff Youngsters’s Hospital Oakland and reported discovering her by herself at an area park on Might 30, 2021. The lady finally informed a social employee her father had sexually abused her and brought illicit photos of her, then testified on the preliminary listening to, describing particular acts of sexual abuse.
The defendant has been jailed since his arrest final yr, together with the 4 months between the preliminary listening to and when the fees have been finally dismissed, courtroom information present. He was launched after the fees have been dropped.