California DOJ didn’t take up the Pelaez-Chavez case. A state lawmaker wants to take away that discretion

A state lawmaker says the decision by the California Attorney General’s Office to not investigate a fatal shooting by a Sonoma County Sheriff’s deputy is a “perfect example” of why a 2021 police oversight law did not go far enough.

Passed in the wake of the George Floyd shooting in Minneapolis, the law requires the state’s Department of Justice to investigate any police shooting of an unarmed civilian.

On Thursday, Attorney General Rob Bonta told The Press Democrat his office followed that law when it declined to investigate the shooting of David Pelaez-Chavez, who was killed after leading deputies on a 45-minute foot chase through rugged terrain in Knight’s Valley on July 29.

Bonta said Pelaez-Chavez did not meet the definition of unarmed because he appeared to be picking up a rock when he was shot three times by Deputy Michael Dietrick.

“We’re just going wherever the law and facts take us and we’re fulfilling our duty and our obligations to the people of California to enforce the law,” Bonta said Thursday in a phone interview with The Press Democrat.

California lawmakers passed Assembly Bill 1506 in September 2020, joining policymakers around the country seeking to reform investigations of law enforcement killings after Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer sparked a nationwide uproar.

Enacted into law in July 2021, the measure has sparked 25 California Department of Justice investigations into the use of deadly force by local law enforcement departments around the state.

Assembly member Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, sponsored AB 1506 and told The Press Democrat he now wants to bring new legislation to remove the Attorney General’s discretion over which cases to investigate.

“This is a perfect example that we were not inclusive enough,” McCarty said of Bonta’s decision on Pelaez-Chavez.

McCarty said lawmakers who supported the initial bill had to compromise by focusing only on police shootings of unarmed civilians. “That was all we could get” that session, he said.

When the legislature reconvenes in January, McCarty intends to bring a bill that will require the Department of Justice to investigate every law enforcement death statewide, regardless of whether it was a shooting death or whether the civilian was armed.

“Whether there is a firearm, a sword, gardening tools or anything, when an individual dies at the hand of law enforcement we owe it to the public to get it right and make sure there is a thorough, impartial investigation,” he said.

Sonoma County law enforcement reform advocates and District Attorney Jill Ravitch have questioned Bonta’s interpretation in the Pelaez-Chavez case.

In a Sept. 7 letter, Ravitch expressed skepticism that Pelaez-Chavez held a deadly weapon.

“It would seem that any object in the physical possession of a decedent might qualify as a deadly weapon given the analysis in this matter,” Ravitch wrote, “regardless of whether being used to assault the officer.”

Bonta said he responded in a letter dated Oct. 18 that lays out the reasoning behind his office’s finding. In the interview, he said the agency followed its publicly posted guidance on when the new law applies.

AG ltr to Sonoma DA 10-18-22 final.pdf

That guidance states: “Objects that have a legitimate non-weapon purpose are considered deadly weapons only when, based on all the circumstances, they are actually being used in a manner likely to produce death or great bodily injury.”

Though Bonta said the Attorney General’s Office sends as many as eight to 10 people to police shootings that led to the death of potentially unarmed civilians, investigators did not deploy to the scene of Pelaez-Chavez’s death. The agency may make the decision not to send investigators if facts on the ground indicate a shooting does not qualify, Bonta said.

The Santa Rosa Police Department alerted the Department of Justice to the incident, and were told it did not meet the law’s criteria, police spokesperson Sgt. Chris Mahurin previously told The Press Democrat.

State investigators reviewed body camera footage, “which in our view makes it clear that this was not an unarmed scenario,” Bonta said. Previous statements from agency spokespeople indicated that the review occurred after a state investigator’s initial determination not to pick up the case.

“We are fully committed to carrying (state law) out in a way that's fair and complete and comprehensive and thorough and accurate,” Bonta said, “and making sure that we do a thorough investigation of the facts and that we apply the law to those facts.”

Bonta declined to take a position on McCarty’s proposed changes before they are introduced. But he said the Department of Justice could handle implementing such a law provided lawmakers also include sufficient resources.

“It’s certainly feasible if its resourced and supported with the budget and personnel that are needed to carry out the mission,” he said.

For now, his agency is focused on enacting AB 1506, a historic change in the role of state prosecutors, and trying to respond to police shootings captured under the law in a timely and thorough fashion, Bonta said.

The Department of Justice does not list any completed investigations under the new law online, and seven of the cases have been ongoing for more than a year. Though he hoped to close investigations within a year, the reality has proven more difficult, Bonta said. He expressed confidence his agency would become quicker with practice and resources.

In budget requests to the Legislature last year, Department of Justice officials said they needed more money to fully comply with the new law and adequately investigate police killings of unarmed citizens.

“The unique definitions of ‘deadly weapon’ and ‘unarmed civilian’ expand the number of cases that the (Attorney General) may be required to investigate,” department officials wrote in a request for an additional $2.3 million in the latest budget.

The Legislature granted the additional funds, which department officials said would go to hire seven more investigators to deal with the influx of new case work.

On Sept. 12, the Community Advisory Council for Sonoma County’s Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach addressed their own letter to the attorney general, calling on him to reverse his agency’s decision and “exercise (his) responsibility” under the new state law.

The Attorney General’s Office hasn’t answered that letter yet either, according to Community Advisory Council Chairman Evan Zelig.

Eliminating any discretion over which cases the attorney general takes on would be a positive change, Zelig said.

“I would hope that they’re not factoring their budget into those decisions but with any government bureaucracy I suspect it’s possible they are,” he said.

Budget concerns did not factor in the department’s decision in the Pelaez-Chavez case, Bonta said.

McCarty does not believe his legislation will lead to a wave of new indictments for law enforcement officers who kill someone while on the job, he said. But having the attorney general be automatically tapped to investigate every death, including deaths in custody and in jails, could create public confidence that outside oversight is being brought to deadly encounters that often create deep community rifts, he said.

Had Floyd’s death occurred in California, the attorney general would not have investigated the killing under AB 1506, McCarty said. The law deals only with officers firing their weapons. Floyd was killed when former officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee across his neck for more than eight minutes.

Chauvin was convicted of murder and is serving a decadeslong prison sentence in Minnesota.

“The public does not think district attorneys can adequately and independently do investigations,” McCarty said, “having the state attorney general be in charge is a much more transparent and trusted process for California.”

Bonta agreed that a state investigation can help “build trust back” between a law enforcement agency and the community it serves following a fatal shooting.

“There’s generally a good amount of support for this approach,” he said.

For her part, Ravitch has promised an impartial investigation once the case reaches her agency. The Santa Rosa Police Department, which investigated the Pelaez-Chavez shooting under county protocol that calls for an outside agency’s detectives, is waiting to receive the medical examiner’s investigation before handing the case over to the district attorney, spokesperson Sgt. Chris Mahurin said.

You can reach Staff Writer Andrew Graham at andrew.graham@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @AndrewGraham88