By Vanguard Staff
OAKLAND, CA — In a blistering open letter released this week, former Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price issued a sharp critique of her successor, newly appointed District Attorney Ursula Jones-Dickson, accusing her of dismantling key justice reforms, reversing progress on equity, and undermining public trust.
The nine-page letter, titled “Tragedy & Travesty of Justice in Alameda County,” paints a sweeping and damning picture of the first few months of Jones-Dickson’s administration. Price claims that her successor has not only dismissed cases without due diligence, but has also removed staff, silenced transparency measures, and re-entrenched a culture of favoritism and injustice that she had worked to dismantle.
At the center of the letter is Price’s condemnation of the dismissal of criminal charges against Radius Recycling, a corporation previously indicted by a grand jury for a 2023 fire that released toxic lead into the air. Price says that the case was dropped without consulting victims or the lead attorney and despite extensive evidence gathered from 50 witnesses and thousands of documents. She notes that the statute of limitations to refile the charges is rapidly approaching and frames the decision as both reckless and indifferent to public health and community safety.
Price also criticizes the new DA’s decision to drop two major consumer fraud cases related to auto and home insurance schemes. She argues that these cases had been vetted over the course of a year, approved by County Counsel and the Board of Supervisors, and followed legal precedent established by the California Supreme Court. According to Price, dismissing these cases without speaking to the legal teams involved was not only shortsighted but jeopardized the ability of harmed consumers to seek restitution due to looming statute of limitations deadlines.
In what may be the most serious allegation in the letter, Price accuses Jones-Dickson of enabling a major conflict of interest by assigning Catherine Horner Kobal to oversee the Resentencing Unit. Kobal’s father, retired Judge Jeffrey Horner, presided over numerous death penalty cases that are now under review for prosecutorial misconduct and racial bias. One such case, that of Ernest Dykes, triggered a broader review ordered by federal Judge Vincent Chhabria. Price argues that assigning the daughter of a judge involved in several tainted cases to supervise resentencing decisions that could involve her father’s rulings is an ethical breach that threatens the integrity of the process.
Price disputes claims that her administration failed to notify or engage with victims, noting that she assigned a special team of advocates and inspectors to contact victims in resentencing cases, partnered with organizations like Broken by Violence and MEND Collaborative, and created dedicated support channels for families. She also reminds readers that victims include not only the survivors of violent crime but also defendants whose constitutional rights were violated in flawed prosecutions.
The letter goes on to criticize the dismantling of units that Price had created or expanded to advance public safety and equity. She highlights the disbanding of the Consumer Justice Bureau, the Organized Retail Crime Alliance, and divisions focused on gender justice and human trafficking. These units, she says, had secured millions in settlements, created national models for prosecution, and built strong relationships with law enforcement and community groups.
Price charges that Jones-Dickson’s claim that a backlog in cases justified rescinding charging directives is a “false narrative.” According to her, no backlog was ever documented in felony or juvenile cases, and the directive never applied to misdemeanors, where backlogs had occurred. She calls the reasoning for the rollback “deeply disturbing” and politically motivated.
She also disputes the assertion that her administration failed to prosecute wage theft, noting that the office had secured significant state grants, partnered with the U.S. Department of Labor, and launched collaborations with local unions and organizations. Similarly, she calls out the disbanding of the retail theft unit ORCA, which had been launched with state and local funding, had trained extensively, and was working closely with local and federal agencies.
The letter then turns to what Price calls a disturbing personnel trend. She states that at least ten attorneys and eleven staff members, mostly Black or Latino, have been fired or placed on administrative leave, while white staff have been rehired or elevated to leadership positions. She argues that this pattern reflects a return to the discriminatory practices that plagued the DA’s office in earlier years and undermines public confidence.
Price also points to what she sees as an erosion of transparency. She says the public data dashboard her administration spent a year developing has been taken offline, that reports on gun violence and public health have been removed from the DA’s website, and that weekly press briefings and electronic newsletters have been discontinued. She accuses the current DA of concealing information from the public and undoing systems meant to hold the office accountable.
In her final pages, Price warns that major police accountability cases—including the prosecutions in the deaths of Maurice Monk, Vinetta Martin, and Steven Taylor—are now in jeopardy. She points out that the new DA has resumed accepting campaign contributions from police unions, which her administration had refused. Price views this as a signal that cases involving law enforcement misconduct may be shelved or dismissed.
Price ends her letter with a call to vigilance, urging the public to hold Jones-Dickson accountable with the same scrutiny that was applied to her own tenure. She states that while she has returned to private practice and is launching a podcast and blog called Pamela Price Unfiltered, she remains committed to justice and to exposing what she sees as a dangerous rollback of hard-won progress.
“These are the facts and I am doing just fine,” she writes. “While our DA is rebuilding the pipeline to prison, we are building a pathway home.”
