OAKLAND, Calif. — The Anti Police-Terror Project is sounding alarms after what it describes as a highly unusual and troubling development in the murder case of Steven Taylor, drawing renewed scrutiny to the Alameda County District Attorney’s handling of police accountability cases.
The Anti Police-Terror Project, Justice 4 Steven Taylor organizers, and Taylor’s family will gather Friday, Nov. 14, at the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse for a hearing on the defense motion to dismiss all charges against former San Leandro police officer Jason Fletcher, who shot and killed Taylor inside a Walmart in 2020.
The Anti Police-Terror Project states the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office will not contest the defense motion, meaning the prosecution is poised to allow Fletcher to walk free without a trial or accountability for Taylor’s killing.
The Anti Police-Terror Project writes that Taylor’s family members and advocates believe the move raises serious concerns about the district attorney’s commitment to justice, transparency and accountability in police brutality cases.
The organization notes that the hearing will include testimony from former prosecutor Zackary Linowitz, a use-of-force expert who has been subpoenaed to address claims the defense is using to justify Fletcher’s dismissal.
For more than five years, the Anti Police-Terror Project states, Taylor’s family has endured delays, reassignments and political obstruction in their efforts to secure accountability for his death.
Under District Attorney Ursula Jones-Dickson, the Taylor family has been set back further, the Anti Police-Terror Project explains.
The organization also notes that under Jones-Dickson’s authority, charges against eight of the eleven officers implicated in the death of Maurice Monk at Santa Rita Jail have been dismissed. A separate case against two sheriff’s deputies accused of falsifying safety check records in the death of a mentally unstable woman who later died by suicide in custody has also been dropped.
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