Family of man in Taser death accuses Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch of bias

The parents of Branch Wroth, a Forestville man who died last year while being restrained by public safety officers, have filed a complaint with the State Bar of California that alleges Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch was biased in her review of the officer-involved death.

Christopher and Marni Wroth said they believe their son’s death wasn’t fairly investigated because they are outspoken activists who have criticized Ravitch and Sonoma County law enforcement and also because of their family’s history with police agencies, including another son’s treatment while being booked into jail in a case that resulted in a $1.25 million settlement in a federal civil rights suit.

The Wroths have asked the state bar, a regulatory agency that’s part of the judicial branch, to examine whether Ravitch violated any professional conduct rules for prosecutors when she reviewed the investigation into the officers involved with Branch Wroth’s May 2017 death and cleared them of criminal wrongdoing.

Ravitch, who reviewed a copy of the complaint provided to her by The Press Democrat, defended the integrity of her office’s determination that the officers didn’t violate criminal laws.

She said she didn’t know about the Wroth family’s activism until after her report was done and she met with the family.

“The review we conducted was complete and we endeavored to find the truth, as we do in every officer-involved fatality,” Ravitch said.

Ravitch added that she was aware that Branch Wroth’s death “was very painful” for his family and she expressed her condolences to them in person and tried to answer?their questions.

Christopher Wroth, who with his wife now lives in Mount Shasta in Siskiyou County, said they filed the complaint in June.

A July 12 letter from the state bar to the Wroths indicated the agency had reviewed their complaint and forwarded it to the enforcement unit “for further investigation and prosecution, if warranted.”

A state bar spokeswoman said they cannot provide any public confirmation about complaints or investigations.

She said not all complaints are investigated.

Christopher Wroth said he decided to file a complaint after meeting with Ravitch at her office in April to go over her determination the officers acted lawfully when Branch Wroth died.

He said he felt Ravitch didn’t answer all of their questions and that there was “obvious bias in the work that was done.”

He and his wife strongly believe the officers neglected their son’s need for medical attention.

“The carelessness that was involved was really the cause” of his death, Christopher Wroth said.

Branch Wroth, 41, of Forestville, died from a heart attack after being shocked with an electric stun gun and while being restrained by Rohnert Park police officers during a May 12, 2017, encounter at a hotel room.

Staff at the Budget Inn in Rohnert Park had called police to the Redwood Drive business after Wroth didn’t vacate the room by check-out time, describing him as a “very disoriented person.”

He was under the influence of methamphetamine, according to the autopsy report.

When officers arrived, Wroth was naked and confused, telling them he believed his clothes were poisoned. He couldn’t answer basic questions such as where he lived, according to body camera video of the encounter reviewed by The Press Democrat.

Wroth had a misdemeanor warrant for his arrest because he had unexcused absences from a court-ordered drunken-?driving class, according to the family’s attorney. The officers who arrived tried to put him in handcuffs and bring him to a patrol car. But Wroth didn’t comply.

A struggle ensued and it took multiple officers, using a Taser and blows with fists and elbows, to get Wroth on the ground, where he was restrained facedown with his hands and legs behind his back.

While on the ground, Wroth stopped breathing. The officers administered CPR, but he died.

The Sheriff’s Office was brought in to investigate Wroth’s death under a countywide protocol for officer-involved incidents and deaths. Ravitch’s office reviewed their findings and found no criminal liability on the part of the officers.

Ravitch said Wroth’s death likely resulted from a combination of his drug intoxication and physical exertion resisting police.

She said the investigation showed the officers tried to convince Wroth to cooperate with them but he would not.

Four years before Branch Wroth’s death, their younger son, Esa Wroth, was shocked more than 20 times with a Taser while being booked into the Sonoma County Jail. Esa Wroth, who was 27 at the time, was being arrested on suspicion of drunken driving Jan. 2, 2013, and he struggled with correctional deputies.

He sued the county in a federal civil rights alleging that deputies used excessive force.

The case resulted in a $1.25 million payout to the family and procedural changes in the jail.

Later that year, 13-year-old Andy Lopez was shot and killed by a sheriff’s deputy in unincorporated Santa Rosa, a shooting that led to sustained public protests and meetings about police-?community relations.

Lopez had been carrying an airsoft BB gun designed to look like an AK-47, and the deputy mistook it for a real assault weapon.

Christopher and Marni Wroth joined those protests, and they were among a stalwart group of activists that pressed local officials over the course of several years to provide a stronger rebuke of the deputy’s actions the day Lopez was shot.

In 2014, they were part of a group that started the “Andy Lopez Memorial Picket Line” that met weekly to protest with signs and bullhorns in front of Sonoma County Superior Court in Santa Rosa.

Their protests included criticism of Ravitch, who was responsible for the final review of the Lopez shooting and determined the officer acted lawfully.

The Wroths also are suing Rohnert Park and the public safety officers involved in Branch Wroth’s death in an ongoing federal rights lawsuit, alleging they acted carelessly by not providing aid to their disoriented and distraught son.

Their attorney in that case, Izaak Schwaiger, said he’s not involved in their complaint to the State Bar of California but he believes it has merit.

“They were outspoken critics of a public official who then refused to recuse herself when tasked with examining law enforcement’s culpability in their son’s death,” Schwaiger said. “An elected prosecutor ethically must avoid even the appearance of impropriety.”

The Wroths also wanted the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office to recuse itself from conducting the investigation into the Rohnert Park officers involved in Branch Wroth’s death.

A local group called the Police Brutality Coalition in August 2017 - three months after Branch died - brought the Wroths’ request before a citizen panel advising the independent auditor of the Sheriff’s Office.

Jerry Threet, director of the county’s Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach, said he received a formal motion from the coalition that he recommend the Sheriff’s Office not investigate any officer-involved incidents in the county.

Threet said he has not made that recommendation to the Sheriff’s Office, but he will soon be publishing a set of recommendations for how the Sheriff’s Office can improve its investigation procedures for personnel matters and officer-involved incidents.

You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 707-521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jjpressdem.