By Vanguard Staff
VALLEJO, CA – The ACLU Foundation of Northern California is calling on the Vallejo City Council to immediately authorize an independent investigation into the City Attorney’s Office, citing serious and credible allegations of misconduct that span years and implicate the office in obstructing police accountability, destroying evidence, and retaliating against whistleblowers.
In a detailed seven-page letter dated July 24, addressed to Mayor Andrea Sorce and all seven city councilmembers, ACLU senior staff attorney Allyssa Victory writes, “I write on behalf of the ACLU of Northern California to call for an independent investigation of the City Attorney’s Office. We note that Mayor Andrea Sorce has similarly called for such an investigation.”
She adds that the allegations “are numerous, troubling, and come from a broad base including residents, City employees, advocacy organizations, other professionals, and media.”
The letter highlights misconduct by City Attorney Veronica Nebb and her staff in connection with their handling of misconduct by Vallejo Police Department (VPD) officers. Victory warns that if these allegations are substantiated, they could amount to “willful misconduct, neglect of duties, and violations of the City Charter as well as potential civil and criminal violations.”
Among the most serious allegations is the destruction of evidence related to multiple fatal police shootings. Citing reporting by Open Vallejo, the letter notes that a superior court found the City of Vallejo had illegally destroyed hundreds of pieces of physical and audiovisual evidence related to six police shootings from 2012 and 2013. “A superior court confirmed this allegation and deemed it ‘illegal,’” the letter states.
Victory also references sworn deposition testimony from former VPD Captain John Whitney describing a dual filing system used to shield misconduct records from disclosure. Whitney testified that the department maintained “[t]wo separate cabinets” for misconduct complaints—one formal and subject to legal discovery, and a second “cabinet that they referred to as informal resolutions,” from which records “were not being turned over” to parties entitled to them.
The ACLU letter states that “as a result of this shadow filing system, the City Attorney failed to turn over pertinent discovery in more than 150 criminal and civil cases.”
The ACLU acknowledges that the full extent of the City Attorney’s knowledge of this scheme is unknown but argues that there is “evidence that the City Attorney worked to circumvent her obligation to disclose pertinent evidence in litigation by other means, including by attempting to manufacture attorney-client privilege, and destroying evidence of government tort claims against the City.”
The letter further outlines allegations that Nebb and her office failed to investigate or respond appropriately to misconduct complaints made by current and former VPD officers and even retaliated against them.
These include lawsuits filed by former officers Christina Lee and Joseph Gomez, as well as allegations by former VPD Chief Shawny Williams, who said that Nebb was aware of racist threats made against him and failed to report them to the public or the California Department of Justice.
The ACLU also accuses Nebb’s office of “assisting in cover-ups for the police department’s hiring of officers with disqualifying personal and professional histories” and of undermining the city’s Civilian Police Oversight and Accountability Commission.
The letter points to delays in implementing the Commission’s mandate, efforts to weaken its authority through proposed amendments, and “improper collusion with the Vallejo Police Officer’s Association,” which allegedly contributed to the resignation of at least one commissioner.
“The above-listed allegations, among others, support an inference that the City Attorney is hiding evidence of police misconduct from the community,” Victory writes. “As such, they are profoundly damaging to the integrity of the City government.”
Quoting a California Supreme Court case, the letter adds: “Public perception that a city attorney and his deputies might be influenced by [improper considerations], at the expense of the best interests of the city, would insidiously undermine public confidence in the integrity of municipal government and its city attorney’s office.” (City and County of San Francisco v. Cobra Solutions, Inc. (2006) 38 Cal.4th 839, 854.)
The ACLU contends that the City Attorney’s Office cannot credibly oversee or conduct any internal investigation into its own conduct due to an “irremediable conflict of interest.”
Citing Rule 1.7(b) of the California Rules of Professional Conduct, the letter states: “A lawyer shall not… represent a client if there is a significant risk the lawyer’s representation of the client will be materially limited by… the lawyer’s own interests.”
Victory writes, “The credible allegations raised against her portend both professional and personal liabilities that compromise her duties of loyalty and truthfulness to the client, in this case, the City of Vallejo through its City Council.”
The letter also affirms that the City Council has full legal authority to commission an outside investigation.
“The City Council may hire outside legal counsel to conduct an independent investigation into allegations against the City Attorney’s Office,” the ACLU asserts, citing Article IV, Section 401 of the Vallejo City Charter, which permits the council to appoint “special legal counsel… necessary for the handling of any pending or proposed litigation, proceeding, or other legal matter.”
“State and local law both contemplate and specifically authorize the action contemplated by Mayor Sorce to determine the facts surrounding damaging allegations of misconduct by the City Attorney’s Office,” the letter concludes.
In closing, the ACLU argues, “The City must conduct a comprehensive, independent investigation into the City Attorney’s Office. The investigation must be comprehensive, independent, and swiftly initiated, and it must cover the entire tenure of City Attorney Nebb. The integrity of the Vallejo City government and public safety in the community require nothing less.”
