Alameda County DA Moves to Drop Charges Against Officer for 2020 Fatal Shooting

Alameda County District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson has moved to dismiss manslaughter charges against the former San Leandro Police Officer who fatally shot a man in a Walmart store nearly six years ago.

Family members of Steven Taylor, 33, who was shot and killed in 2020, have been waiting years for the trial of former officer Jason Fletcher, whose case has been handed back and forth between county and state prosecutors amid a revolving door of district attorneys in Alameda County in recent years.

Taylor’s supporters said Jones-Dickson’s motion to drop manslaughter charges against Fletcher, 55, abandons “one of the only police accountability cases in Alameda County history.”

“This decision is a slap in the face to Steven’s family, to the community, and to the fight for justice,” supporters wrote on social media on Wednesday. “We will not be silent while the DA shields killer cops from accountability.”

On April 18, 2020, a Walmart security guard alerted police officers that Taylor, who had schizophrenia and bipolar depression, was allegedly attempting to leave without paying.

Fletcher, who was the first to arrive on the scene, moved toward Taylor, who was carrying an aluminum baseball bat. The officer tried to grab the bat and used a taser before shooting Taylor in the chest with a gun, all within 40 seconds.

Then-District Attorney Nancy O’Malley brought manslaughter charges against Fletcher, marking the first time her administration elected to prosecute a police officer for a death, according to Cat Brooks, the executive director of the Anti-Police Terror Project.

After former District Attorney Pamela Price took office in January 2023, Fletcher’s lawyer, Mike Rains, argued that his client didn’t stand to have a fair trial under the former progressive prosecutor’s administration, and a judge turned the case over to California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office.

Taylor’s family and supporters, though, have long advocated for his case to be tried in the district where it occurred, and earlier this year, Superior Court Judge Thomas Reardon returned jurisdiction to Alameda County’s district attorney after Price was recalled from office last November.

Last month, Fletcher’s defense moved to dismiss the case, citing prosecutorial misconduct. He said prosecutors under Price had shopped opinions from several police use-of-force experts who concluded Fletcher’s actions were not criminal, and failed to disclose those opinions to the defense.

During the hearing, Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Casey Bates acknowledged misconduct in the office and, in an unusual move, appeared to refuse to oppose the motion, despite continued questioning from Reardon.

“I agree that there has been outrageous prosecutorial misconduct,” Bates said during the hearing. “I don’t know if it rises to the level of dismissal. I think that’s for the court to decide.”

Reardon rejected the bid to drop charges, but now, a month later, Jones-Dickson has filed a motion to dismiss the case altogether, saying her office cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Fletcher’s actions were criminal and out of line with lawful self-defense.

“Fletcher, in a confined space, was confronted by Taylor, who was armed, refused to comply with verbal commands, was tased twice without appreciable effect, and had verbally indicated an intention to force Fletcher to use physical force up to and including his firearm,” the motion reads. “Fletcher was left with no reasonable alternative.”

Addie Kitchen, Taylor’s grandmother, said Jones Dickson told her Tuesday that the case was old and she didn’t believe it was winnable.

“Let the jury make the decision,” Kitchen, who filed a letter asking a judge not to let the charges drop, said. “If that was their decision that the officer wasn’t guilty, at least the people in Alameda would make that decision. Not the DA.”

Since taking office, Jones Dickson has undone many of Price’s more progressive reforms and dismissed charges against other law enforcement officers in multiple other high-profile cases, including the 2021 deaths of Maurice Monk and Vinetta Martin, who were both found dead in Santa Rita Jail cells in separate incidents. The District Attorney’s office dropped charges against eight jail staffers in connection with Monk’s death, and three staffers continue to face charges.

“It is no surprise then to learn that Ursula [Jones] Dickson, who has vowed to undo every single progressive accountability measure around law enforcement … is making a motion to dismiss,” Brooks said during a press conference outside the Oakland courthouse on Wednesday. She accused the DA of filing the motion while Reardon, who she said has “kept [the case] in the court system,” is on vacation.

“It is egregious, it is vile, it is vicious … it is an affront to what the DA’s office is supposed to do, which is represent the people,” Brooks continued.

In her letter opposing the motion Wednesday, Kitchen said her constitutional rights had been violated since she wasn’t given timely notice. She said she’s asking for the judge to deny or strike the motion and allow Reardon to rule on it later.

“A motion to dismiss a homicide case is the most consequential proceeding possible for a victim’s family,” she wrote. “The Constitution does not allow such a motion to be filed, argued, or granted without first giving the victim a meaningful opportunity to be heard. I was not given that opportunity.”

Kitchen said she and other advocates requested to meet with the DA and reached out to the office multiple times since last month’s hearing, but were left in the dark about the fate of Taylor’s case until Tuesday, just before the motion was filed.

Currently, a hearing on the motion to dismiss is set for Friday. Kitchen has requested to be heard as the victim’s advocate before any decision on the matter is made.

KQED’s Ayah Ali-Ahmad contributed to this report.