California DA Pamela Price Compares Recall Efforts to Jan. 6 as She Faces Criticism Over Policies

Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick (blue jacket, left) and other officers pull back against rioters trying to topple police barriers on the Capitol's west plaza on Jan. 6, 2021. (Metropolitan Police Department/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

California District Attorney Pamela Price, who is facing criticism because of her progressive criminal justice policies, doubled down on her comments comparing a recall effort against her to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach.

In an interview with KTVU-TV, the Alameda County district attorney defended her restorative justice policies despite only being a few months in office.

“These are election deniers,” Ms. Price said. “We had an election. We won the election by an overwhelming majority. It wasn’t a small, close election, and so the people who lost, they lost, and when you lose an election, you shouldn’t be able to overturn the will of the voters. That’s what happened during the insurrection on Jan. 6.”

A recall committee, Save Alameda for Everyone, has been formed to remove Ms. Price. Last week, the group filed the necessary paperwork to begin fundraising for their endeavor.

Carl Chan, a prominent advocate in Oakland’s Chinatown, spoke out last month about Ms. Price’s handling of two men accused of killing Jasper Wu, a toddler, during a freeway shooting on Interstate 880. A stray bullet killed Mr. Wu during a gunfight between rival gang members.

Ms. Price’s office opted not to file additional special circumstances charge against the defendants.

The additional charge would have meant they could face additional prison time in the form of a possible life without parole sentence or the death penalty.

“By not sending a strong message, we are almost saying it’s okay to commit crime because there are no serious consequences,” Mr. Chan said at the time.

In response, Ms. Price said her office takes the death “very seriously” and that she is “very compassionate for the victims.”

“The amount of grief and pain that one experiences when you lose a loved one is nothing I would wish on anybody,” Ms. Price told the news station. “We have to follow the law. The legislature has been very clear about using enhancements in special circumstances and how a district attorney’s office is expected to apply those.”

The Epoch Times reached out to the Oakland Police Officers’ Association and Ms. Price’s office but did not respond before the article’s publication.

Charges Filed Against Deputy DA

In an email to her staff, Ms. Price announced a charge filed against former Deputy District Attorney Amilcar “Butch” Ford and said he “breached several professional rules and codes of conduct” by providing “confidential work product information” to the attorney for Jason Fletcher, a former San Leandro officer with a pending manslaughter charge for the 2020 on-duty shooting death of Steven Taylor.

She charged Mr. Ford with defending after public prosecution as the prosecutor—a violation of the state’s business and professions code—and ordered him to appear in court on July 31, court documents show.

“It hurts everyone in our community when people who swear to uphold the law break it,” Ms. Price wrote in the email. “Butch Ford broke the public trust and betrayed our office and the people of Alameda County…No one in our profession, office, or justice system is above the law.”

At a “recall Price” rally in April, Mr. Ford was the only prosecutor still employed by Ms. Price’s office to speak out against the new district attorney. He criticized the county’s new top prosecutor for being too lenient on crime, particularly in some of the country’s most violent cases. The recall effort came to fruition last week when Price critics formed a committee, the first step in a campaign to oust her.

“When you commit a crime, and you hurt people, you should pay,” said Mr. Ford, standing before a crowd on the steps of the Rene C. Davidson Courthouse in downtown Oakland. “Pamela Price disagrees with that lesson. This is about the rights of victims.”

California District Attorney Chesa Boudin was recalled in San Francisco, and Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón survived a second recall attempt.

Ms. Price has also accused the media of unjustly attacking her and called out local news outlet ABC7 and “the station’s allies who support policies that result in the mass incarceration of black, brown, and low-income people.”

“They were threatening to recall her when she was running for the seat,” said Cat Brooks, co-founder and executive director of the Anti Police-Terror Project, which endorsed Price last year. “Unfortunately, in the Bay Area and in other places in the country, this is the new political tactic,” she said. Ms. Brooks added that the campaigns follow a pattern: first, character assassination, right-wing attacks, and then a recall.