By Emilie St. John
Contributing Writer
LOS ANGELES — A member of the Los Angeles County Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission that is tasked with monitoring the sheriff’s department has resigned alleging conflict with county lawyers over a pending criminal case against a former district attorney advisor to former District Attorney George Gascón.
Sean Kennedy is citing interference by county lawyers over the body’s efforts to dismiss charges against Diana Teran.
“We have heard from the leadership of the department that they cannot give [the oversight commission] ad hoc committees confidential documents,” Kennedy said during a special meeting Feb. 20. “They’re afraid that their employees will be prosecuted by the California attorney general, just as Ms. Teran is being prosecuted.”
During a special meeting held by the Civilian Oversight Commission Feb. 13, the panel contemplated filing an amiscus brief on the matter.
During the meeting, a lawyer for the county told the commission it did not have the authority to file a brief without getting permission from the county Board of Supervisors. But Robert Bonner, the former federal judge who chairs the commission, disputed that and said the oversight commission had done it once before without pushback.
The commission then filed an amicus curiae brief Feb. 17, after its members unanimously voted to do so in a special meeting of the commission. With this “friend of the court” brief, the commission asserted Diana Teran’s “good-faith efforts” to fulfill the district attorney’s constitutionally mandated disclosure of exculpatory information should be “lauded, not criminalized.”
After filing the brief, Kennedy resigned.
“It is not appropriate for the county counsel to control the [Civilian Oversight Commission’s] independent oversight decisions,” Kennedy said, “because the county counsel represents sheriffs engaged in misconduct and because they helped hide deputy gang misconduct for decades.”
The commission added that the sheriff’s department, with the blessing of county counsel, is using the Teran prosecution as an excuse not to share information with the commission, such as death review reports of in-custody deaths in the county jail and force incident reports relating to the use of lethal and potentially excessive force.
The commission stressed that this is negatively impacting its ability to provide the county with effective oversight of the sheriff’s department. In its amicus brief, the commission said the sheriff’s department should not be allowed to “use this misguided prosecution to escape meaningful civilian oversight.”
The Civilian Oversight Commission sent out a press release indicating that it was receiving pushback for attempts to stop its efforts to request documents related to Teran’s case.
“Teran’s indictment chills voter-mandated civilian oversight of the sheriff’s department,” Bonner said. “The sheriff’s department’s refusal to release confidential documents based on professed fears of prosecution by the attorney general dramatically undermines our ability to carry out our mission.”
He said it is imperative that the commission have access to confidential information, such as use of force reports, death reports and internal investigation reports, including body-worn camera evidence and third-party videos.
Bonner noted that the commission has not been able to review the sheriff’s department documents about internal investigations of deputy gangs, deputy-involved shootings, beatings, false statements and the filing of false reports to cover up deputy misconduct.
“Los Angeles County residents deserve better than to be stonewalled while our commission is pursuing reforms of the sheriff’s department’s policies and procedures that would help build a more professionalized sheriff’s department with enhanced public trust and less liability to the county,” Bonner said.
Teran served as a constitutional policing advisor for the sheriff’s department under then-Sheriff Jim McDonnell before joining the district attorney’s office to help carry out its constitutional duty under U.S. Supreme Court case Brady v. Maryland. Under Brady, prosecutors have a duty to disclose exculpatory evidence that could be used to impeach the credibility of prosecution witnesses, including law enforcement witnesses.
The California Department of Justice, led by the attorney general, filed charges against Teran after the sheriff’s department, under then-Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s now defunct Public Corruption Unit, accused her of downloading confidential information from its personnel file system in 2021 while trying to identify deputies to add to the “Brady List.”
Maintained by law enforcement agencies and prosecutor offices, the Brady List contains names and details of law enforcement officers who have sustained incidents of untruthfulness, criminal convictions and other issues raising questions about their credibility.
Teran was initially charged with 11 felonies related to hacking; however, only six charges remain. The rest were either dropped without explanation by state prosecutors or tossed out by a Superior Court judge.
The Board of Supervisors created the Civilian Oversight Commission in 2016 to promote transparency and accountability within the sheriff’s department, to improve relations between the department and the community, and to advance constitutional policing. In 2020, county voters overwhelmingly passed Measure R to grant the commission independent authority to investigate and subpoena witnesses and documents.
According to the commission, the sheriff’s department, relying on the advice of county counsel, has recently thwarted the commission’s efforts to access confidential information on alleged deputy misconduct and other departmental policies and practices by citing the Teran case. Other county agencies, such as the Office of Inspector General, have also become reticent to share confidential information with the commission out of fear of being prosecuted.
Teran was scheduled to go on trial in Superior Court in January, but a California Court of Appeal stepped in as a result of a petition by Teran’s attorney to block her prosecution. A hearing has been scheduled in April to determine whether the case against Teran should continue.
Emilie St. John is a freelance journalist covering the areas of Carson, Compton, Inglewood and Willowbrook. Send tips to her at emiliesaintjohn@gmail.com.
