The Contra Costa District Attorney has discovered additional racist text messages sent by Antioch officers. These messages will now be turned over to defense lawyers after a judge rejected the DA’s attempt to limit their publicization.
Chief Assistant District Attorney Simon O’Connell revealed in a court filing that his office has found 225 pages of previously unseen racist texts by Antioch officers Morteza Amiri and Andrea Rodriguez. Both officers are currently under investigation by the FBI. The DA’s failed motion aimed to prevent the public dissemination of the texts, citing the potential for harm if they were shared in the media.
Judge David Goldstein dismissed the motion, stating that the DA’s office failed to provide legal opinions that would justify granting it. The ruling allows the racist texts to be made public through court records or other means.
Already, numerous pages describing racist communications involving Antioch officers have been published online or described in detail. These reports include officers using racist and homophobic slurs, sharing offensive memes, and admitting to engaging in racist practices during their law enforcement duties.
The FBI and Contra Costa DA’s office discovered these messages during a criminal investigation into Antioch and Pittsburg police officers. The investigation includes allegations of drug dealing, obstruction of justice, assault under color of authority, and fraud.
The Contra Costa prosecutors alerted defense attorneys in relevant cases about the racist texts, including one homicide case where Antioch officers had referred to the accused parties in racist terms. While the DA’s office provided two redacted reports describing some of the messages, many more have yet to be made public.
The redacted reports were published online, and some readers were able to exploit a formatting error to view officers’ names, cell phone numbers, and alleged crimes. A police union attorney threatened to sue the DA’s office for invasion of privacy as a result.
Now that the protective order issue has been resolved, Judge Goldstein will soon hear arguments from the defense attorneys of four East Bay men, who are seeking to have the charges against them dismissed due to the police racism. Prosecutors have acknowledged that the racist texts are a violation of the state’s Racial Justice Act, but there is disagreement between the defense and prosecution regarding the appropriate legal remedy.
Meanwhile, a federal grand jury is still reviewing potential criminal charges against the officers.