Los Angeles, CA – Fair and Just Prosecution (FJP) and the Prosecutors Alliance of California, along with a coalition of eight former District Attorneys, U.S. Attorneys, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys in California, urged a California appeals court to dismiss the case against Diana Teran, who has been charged with sharing confidential police misconduct records that are in fact publicly accessible documents. In an amicus brief filed in the California Second District Court of Appeal, the signatories argue that the case brought by the California Attorney General is “astonishingly weak” and that Ms. Teran was simply fulfilling her legal obligations as a prosecutor to maintain a Brady database of law enforcement misconduct.
Prosecutors are constitutionally obligated under Brady to disclose favorable evidence to the defense, including evidence undermining the credibility of a prosecution witness. Ms. Teran was hired by the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office to oversee the office’s law enforcement accountability responsibilities, including the office’s Brady database to track law enforcement misconduct. She is now accused of accessing “confidential information” regarding individual sheriff deputies’ past misconduct, but even the prosecution has acknowledged that those documents were all available to the public as court records.
As the letter brief notes, Ms. Teran’s “rigorous application of a prosecutor’s ethical and legal obligations exemplifies model prosecutorial conduct and should serve as the standard for all prosecutors.” Yet, should the state prevail in this case, it would put prosecutors in an impossible situation where they have to fear that carrying out their duty to investigate and turn over evidence of police misconduct will imperil their careers and put them at risk of imprisonment. A successful prosecution in this case would chill efforts at accountability and transparency, shielding only dishonest and violent police officers from accountability.
“This case has the potential to devastate efforts to increase transparency and accountability in law enforcement,” said Amy Fettig, acting Co-Executive Director of Fair and Just Prosecution. “Prosecutors must be empowered to perform their duties without fear of prosecution for simply doing their jobs. What’s at stake here is the public’s faith that the criminal legal system is capable of holding itself accountable under the law.”
The coalition urges the California Court of Appeal to grant Ms. Teran’s writ of prohibition and dismiss the charges against her, reinforcing the importance of ethical and transparent prosecutorial practices that prioritize justice over secrecy.
“The prosecution of Ms. Teran is nothing short of an attack on the ethical duty of prosecutors to ensure justice and transparency,” said Cristine Soto DeBerry, Executive Director of the Prosecutors Alliance of California. “Prosecutors must uphold the law by disclosing evidence of police misconduct, and charging Ms. Teran for doing exactly that sends a chilling message to those fulfilling their roles in a fair and just manner.”
