Attorneys for San Leandro police officer ask judge to dismiss manslaughter case

"The attorney for a former San Leandro police officer charged with manslaughter in a 2020 death of Steven Taylor wants a judge to toss the case, amid claims of unscrupulous behavior by a since-departed Alameda County prosecutor. The request on behalf of Jason Fletcher who has since retired from the San Leandro Police Department comes less than two months after the officer's attorney, Michael Rains, accused one Alameda County prosecutor of unethical behavior."

"Rains said the case had been undone by underhandedness by former Alameda County prosecutor Zachary Linowitz, who oversaw the case under former District Attorney Pamela Price. Rains claimed the prosecutor deliberately suppressed opinions from multiple experts who thought the officer's actions were justified and legal. Since the beginning, this prosecution has been infected with unethical political posturing and plagued with misconduct, Rains wrote in the filing, adding that the prosecution misled the community into believing this was a crime when it was not."

"He doubled down in an email Monday framing the accusations as deeply misleading, and the alleged violations nothing more than routine, mundane prosecutorial work. In any major case, prosecutors consult experts, some formally and some informally, evaluate their input, and determine what is useful and admissible at trial and what needs to be disclosed to the defense, said Linowitz, who left the district attorney's office early this year to"

An attorney filed a motion seeking dismissal of manslaughter charges against former San Leandro officer Jason Fletcher related to the 2020 death of Steven Taylor. The motion alleges former Alameda County prosecutor Zachary Linowitz deliberately suppressed expert opinions that supported the officer's actions and that the prosecution was tainted by unethical political posturing and misconduct. The filing asserts the prosecution misled the community into believing a crime occurred. Linowitz has denied the allegations, called them false, and described the conduct as routine prosecutorial evaluation of expert input and disclosure decisions.

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