Office or
The City AttOrn'ey .
City of San Diego

MEMORANDUM
Ms 59 

(619)533?5800

'April20,2016

TO: I City Attorney Employees
FROM: City Attorney Jan Goldsmit

SUBJECT: Issues Regarding Domestic iolence Cases

 

Dear colleagues:

In the next few days, you may see media reports on how our Of?ce allowed the Statute of
Limitations to expire on 15 misdemeanor Domestic Violence cases, as well as four other cases,
that could have been prosecuted during the years 2012 through 2015.

I am writing to provide you with the facts and to assure you that this situation, which we
investigated and addressed in 2015, does not re?ect on the high quality of work performed every
day by our Criminal Division and the many outstanding prosecutors, investigators and staff who
work there. 

Nonetheless, there is no justi?cation for what happened in this situation.

It is inexcusable to allow the Statute of Limitations to expire as it did in these cases, and
eSpecially serious that it would occur in cases involving domestic violence.

Our of?ce has a long history of prioritizing domestic violence cases and entrusting them to some
of our best prosecutors. The victims in these cases deserve nothing less that our full support.

During this same time period, 2012 through 2015, our of?ce received and reviewed 10,306
Domestic Violence cases. Our conviction rate in the cases we issued routinely exceeded 95
percent. This year it is 96.1 percent. These numbers re?ect the excellent work of our Criminal
Division and our Domestic Violence Unit.

Here are the facts:

On Friday, November 6, 2015, the new head of the Criminal Division, John Hemmerling,
disCovered boxes of ?les assigned to one Deputy with cases that were not properly assigned or
processed, and he informed me.

City Attorney Employees 2 - I 'April 20, 2016

On November 9, 2015, Executive Assistant City Attorney Paul Cooper and I began a fact-?nding
investigation that included interviews with everyone who mi ght' haveanWledge of these cases
and how they were handled. - - - -

On November 11, 2015, Nicole Crosby, the new Chief of the Domestic Violence Unit, began a  -
caSe file audit of all Domestic Violence Unit attorneys going back four years. She reviewed 98 
cases assigned to one Deputy that had no court date, court numberor rejection number for the
purpose of determining their status, whether they should have been issued, and if they could still
beissued??- - - .. - 
Chief Deputy Crosby determined that 62 of those 98 cases were beyond the Statute of
Limitations, but in each case a decision had been made not to issue the case based on
insuf?ciency of evidence. In these cases, the rejection process had not been completed.

Chief Deputy Crosby determined that 19 of the 98 cases could have been issued, but the Statute.
of Limitations had passed. Here is a breakdown of those cases:

a 15 of the 19 cases were misdemeanor Domestic Violence eases

I 2 of the 19 cases were indecent expOsure cases (one with no victim)
- 1 of the 19 cases was a sexual offender Who registered a week late
a of the 19 cases wasa theft from an elder

The remaining '17 of the 98 cases that were still within the Statute of Limitations. These cases
were immediately assigned to Deputy City Attorneys and four were issued, resulting in three
guilty pleas and one in which an arrest warrant was issued. The other 13 cases were not issUed
because of insufficient evidence, or because-we chose not to prosecute after a discussionwith the
victims and a review of the evidence. -

Because of the unique circumstances, our Victim Advocates created a protocol for reaching out
to victims. Each was contacted by telephone or by letter, given the direct phone line of a Victim
Advocate and urged to bring us any concerns or questions about what happened totheir 'cases.

In addition, our of?ce investigated to determine whether suSpects had any pending or new cases
or probation matters of record. None did. The San Diego Police Department was informed of the
circumstances concerning the expired Statute of Limitations through the standard Complaint
Request Evaluation (CRE) process.

Personnel issues related to this situation were addressed immediately and appropriately.

During the more than seven years I have led this Office, I cannot think of a situation as grave or
troubling as this one. However, I do not believe it is representative of our-Office?s work and I
have full con?dence in the leadership team now in place in the Criminal Division and the
Domestic Violence Unit.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact John Hemmerling or me.

JG:cs