Racist text scandal at Northern California police department at center of court hearing

Defense attorneys for four men charged with murder and attempted murder in a 2021 shooting subpoenaed the officers to testify about heavily redacted text messages made public in April by the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s office. The attorneys were expected to argue before Judge David Goldstein that their clients, two of them mentioned in the text messages, were unfairly targeted based on their race.

Antioch Police Chief Steven Ford was also subpoenaed to testify, but Goldstein ruled Friday he did not need to appear because his testimony was not relevant to whether the officers sent the texts or showed racial bias when investigating and arresting the men on trial. Ford was not the police chief at the time.

Mathew Martinez, a lawyer for one of the defendants, said the officers were subpoenaed so they could explain in court why they sent the texts. But “they’re all unavailable, indefinitely,” he said.

Law Law Latest News, Law Law Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Racist text scandal at Northern California police department at center of court hearingRacist text messages between members of a San Francisco Bay Area police department was the subject of a Friday court hearing on possible violations of a state law aimed at stamping out racism in the criminal justice system
Source: WOKVNews - 🏆 247. / 63 Read more »

Racist text scandal at Northern California police department at center of court hearingRacist text messages between members of a San Francisco Bay Area police department were the subject of a Friday court hearing on possible violations of a state law aimed at stamping out racism in the criminal justice system
Source: WOKVNews - 🏆 247. / 63 Read more »

Plaintiffs in Antioch racist texts case head to courtA judge is expected on Friday to consider whether Antioch police officers who exchanged racist text messages violated a state law aimed at stamping out racism in the criminal justice system.
Source: KPIXtv - 🏆 443. / 53 Read more »