Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price is facing severe backlash and a possible recall from residents who think she is inept in prosecuting violent crime cases. The California judge joins a handful of district attorneys across the United States who have been blasted for their soft-on-crime approach.
Price succeeded former District Attorney Nancy O’Malley. She won the election in 2022 by promising to eliminate systemic racism in the criminal justice system. However, the community is now calling for a recall, believing Price is too lenient on criminals, particularly accused murderers, and will not take the proper steps to address violent crime.
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She is the latest progressive prosecutor to be under the microscope for her stance on crime, joining the list of several district attorneys and city leaders across several Democratic-controlled cities facing scrutiny for rising crime rates. Those facing scrutiny include former San Francisco District Attorney Chese Boudin and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Who is Pamela Price?
Price is the district attorney for Alameda County, which includes Oakland. Previously, she worked as a civil rights attorney and a political activist. She lost to O’Malley in the 2018 election, but she eventually won in 2022 against Deputy District Attorney Terry Wiley and county prosecutor Jimmie Wilson.
During her campaign, she released hundreds of pages of emails obtained through a public records request. The records showed instances in which employees from the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office openly campaigned for O’Malley, and against Price, during the 2018 election using government emails, which is against state law.
Price ran her 2022 campaign on more progressive policies than her opponents and received large ad donations from the California Justice and Public Safety PAC, largely funded by billionaire George Soros, who is known for providing support to left-leaning candidates.
Mass change as Price enters office
Since the beginning of her term as district attorney, Price has wasted no time making steep changes. She has fired over 20 prosecutors on her team and placed six on administrative leave, according to ABC 7 News.
She has also angered both residents and the judicial community with her actions toward criminal cases. In late March, Price offered a plea deal of 15 years in jail to Delonzo Logwood, who was accused of killing three people in a murder-for-hire scheme.
The judge in the case, Mark McCannon, refused the plea deal. He stated that Price had offered no explanation for the leniency, according to the City Journal. The case is going to trial in April.
The widow of Kevin Nishita, a security guard who was protecting a KRON 4 News reporter when he was shot and killed, is also unhappy with Price. She believes that the three men charged by O’Malley will not be given the maximum punishment under Price.
Jasper Wu case causes community uproar
Problems with Price have increased dramatically due to her actions surrounding the murder case of an Asian American boy in 2021.
In 2021, Jasper Wu, a 2-year-old boy, died after being hit by a stray bullet while sitting in the backseat of his mother’s car on Interstate 880 in Oakland. The gunfire was exchanged by warring gang members. His family had called on O’Malley and the district attorney’s office to charge and severely prosecute the murderers.
Three men, Trevor Green, Johnny Jackson, and Ivory Bivens, have been charged with Wu’s murder, and they are expected to appear back in court at the end of April.
O’Malley had sworn to prosecute those responsible for the boy’s death for significant jail time. However, after O’Malley retired, Price inherited the case. After there were no updates for several months, Price released a statement on the case that quickly enraged the community, particularly those of Asian American Pacific Islander descent.
”Our office is currently working on a partnership with the Asian Law Caucus to support AAPI victims of violence in ways that open up broader possibilities for healing and non-carceral forms of accountability,” Price’s office said in a statement.
“Non-carceral forms of accountability” means the office sought to forgo jail time in exchange for other punishments. The community immediately pressed back against the statement, comparing Price to Boudin, who was recalled for defending similar alternatives to incarceration, among other progressive policies.
Additionally, a memo was obtained by ABC 7 News‘s I-Team detailing Price’s plan to eliminate sentence enhancements for violent crimes, which could upgrade the sentence for a felony if a gun was used or on the suspect’s person during the time of the incident.
Outrage over this released memo has grown significantly, as the memo indicated she intended to eliminate enhancements for gun-related crimes, gang history, and criminal history. ABC 7 later obtained emails from Price stating that she believed media outlets were misleading the Chinese community and the community members were “misinformed” about her changes to charge enhancements for violent crimes.
The emails were deemed “offensive” by the National Asian Pacific Islander Prosecutors Association in a press release on April 6.
“Instead of expressing sympathy for Jasper Wu’s family, D.A. Price condescendingly commented that defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty and that ‘[s]ome people don’t know about the basic principles of constitutional law that govern our office and the justice system,'” NAPIPA said.
The emails, addressed “to the Chinese communities,” also indicated that there was a “need to root out racism in our criminal justice system, starting in [her] office.”
“While we applaud D.A. Price’s goal to eliminate racism in our criminal justice system and in her office, it is again unclear why racism, or race, is relevant when discussing a 23-month-old’s brutal murder,” the association wrote.
The Washington Examiner reached out to NAPIPA for a statement.
Launching a recall
Since the revelation of the emails and memo, community members have launched a recall campaign. As of April 20, a change.org petition to recall Price already has over 15,500 signatures. It is seeking 25,000.
Hundreds of protesters gathered at the Alameda County Courthouse last week. “Justice for Jasper,” they shouted. Chants of “Recall Price” and “Do your job” could also be heard.
Price released a video message last week expressing her condolences to Wu’s family and promising that the men “will be held accountable.” She acknowledged that her team has not decided on what charges to pursue as of last week.
“This particular tragedy is being used by people with a political agenda to divide our diverse community. The kind of racist messages directed at me personally has been unprecedented,” Price said in her message. “Those who claim that race has affected the case are wrong. My mission is to root out racism in our criminal justice system.”
She said in an interview with KTVU News that she believes she is held to a different standard because she is the first black woman to hold the district attorney position. However, constant criticism will not stop her from doing her job, she said.
“I came to Alameda County 40 years ago. I was embraced by the people of this county, and I have a great legal career here. What I expect is for the public to trust my judgment,” she said. “They elected me, not some critic that has an opinion. That person can’t do this job. I can.”
Michael Nguyen, one of several protest attendees at the courthouse, told the California Globe that Price was focusing on the wrong thing and there was “nothing being divided.”
“There was nothing being divided,” said Nguyen. “Look at the protests and who the protesters are. There are a lot of Asians, yes, but there were a lot of white people, black people, and Latinos there. This isn’t a racial issue or an issue about division.”
“It’s about justice, not social justice. It’s about three gang members who fired on each other, who killed an innocent child in the process, who should get as much jail time as possible,” he continued.
The media, particularly ABC 7 News, became the center of Price’s new campaign to fight against the backlash. On April 23, she plans to attend a rally called “Rally in support of DA Price.” It aims to fight against “anti-Price media.”
The rally’s announcement flyer specifically targeted ABC 7 News, accusing the station and its allies of supporting “policies that result in mass incarceration of black, brown, and low-income people.”
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“Together, we can demand that the anti-Price media, including ABC 7 News, and those who lost the election stop lying and unjustly attacking the county’s first Black woman District Attorney,” the flyer for the event said.
However, community members say they are not looking to pursue politics or make the situation a racial issue — they are just looking for Price to do her job, they say.
