The impact of a San Jose police officer who resigned after his racist texts were revealed will be felt in the courts and for some their criminal convictions.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office sent a letter to the public defender’s office listing cases that will not be prosecuted because of Officer Mark McNamara’s involvement.
District Attorney Jeff Rosen has been reviewing criminal cases in which his office says McNamara played a significant role. At this point, that means potentially more than 50 cases could be dismissed or the convicted people could have their record cleared.
McNamara was allowed to quit last November when it was revealed he had allegedly sent numerous personal racist texts to at least one other officer, including many that used the "n" word as well as statements such as "I hate Black people."
Rosen formed an office committee that determined McNamara was significantly involved in 54 cases – about 13 already resolved in court but some that will never get there.
"There’s five cases – low level narcotics case – that we determined we couldn’t proceed in that we'd have to rely upon McNamara’s testimony and we're unwilling to do that because we take very seriously the racism that he expressed," Rosen said.
But upon getting a letter about the cases, the public defender’s office said it sees about 19 open cases that should be dismissed.
"They’re going to move aside any evidentiary pieces that this officer touched or introduced," Attorney Karina Alvarez said. "That’s not good enough because this officer framed the narrative in any form in his role in investigations. So he is involved. He framed the narrative to some degree, whether small, medium or large."
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Rosen said it’s a tough line.
"And we certainly don’t want members of our community, we don’t want domestic violence victims or sexual assault victims to suffer because they were unlucky enough to have McNamara take their statement," he said.
For now, the list of cases that the DA says McNamara played a significant role stays at 54, but Rosen emphasized he has invited the public defender’s office and other defense attorneys to meet and make their case about any other cases that should be added.
