'1""'1-~- ~·~ ,.- . . ... - . . . ..,.. DECLARATION OF STEPHEN M. GALLENSON . ~· ~-- "' . ., 1 am a criminal defense attorney who has practiced law in Sonoma County for 34 1. years. During this period of time I have read numerous police reports and cross-examined numerous law enforcement officers. I have also had conversations with many law enforcement officers regarding tactics and strategies of law enforcement. It is my opinion that Officer Jacy Tatum is the most dishonest and unprofessional officer I have ever encountered. His reputation for dishonesty stands far above any other officer I have encountered. His dishonesty can be seen in his testimony, report writing, conversation, and the manner in which he enforces the law. My opinion is based upon my own personal encounters with him, encounters my staff has had with him, and the encounters that numerous other defense attorneys have had with him. 2. Recently ten defense attorneys met in my office to discuss what, if anything, could be done about Jacy Tatum. Each of the attorneys expressed their opinion that Tatum regularly lies in his police reports and when he testifies. Each attorney gave examples of cases where Tatum made statements in police reports that were later determined to be false. Never in my 34 years of practicing have I had the experience of so many defense attorneys wanting to come together for the specific purpose of discussing the dishonesty of a single officer. Based on discussions among the attorneys it appears that Jac T t . • Y a um engages 1n the following conduct: A. He routinely profiles young men driving on Hwy 101 and manufactures probable cause to stop the vehicle because Tatum believes he will find d rugs. r ·~ _ _...._~ ...... ~"""""l!'!. .I!II[IP\IIIII~..,..I!IJII"'"'l~~~._......--.. ~-·-. -··~-~--·~-2.2149 !$.. . ;.;.... : . , 14.,9. , SiL Ji¥S!44 ,.*49l AJ $.::;:;;:: .•..i!J'!·lf.· • , •• '"fil<¥. /{~· ,. · :>~<- · · ·· "''>~{· ·"'iliMI~siOris, ..,. .-,""·- . ,---··· ·- . - --P"""'-"""""""~.....,.__,..,.......,_. .91% ··" . . ; _ .. ._ ptA · ~. . a .. ·. when he has not found what he is looking for, he has nevertheless seized the vehicle and whatever cash he can find, and requires the driver and passengers to walk away on Hwy 101, or other busy roadways. C. On at least three occasions when Officer Tatum has been on his way to test\fy at a court proceeding pursuant to subpoena, and he has decided to forego his obligation to the court, and instead he decided to make a routine traffic stop, as described above, followed by a call to the district attorney stating he would be unable to make it to court. This has resulted in hearings having to be put over or cancelled due to his absence. 3. In a recent case 1had with him, he was investigating my client whom he believed to be a marijuana dealer. He had executed a search warrant and seized a motorcycle, one vehicle, cash, 26 pairs of tennis shoes, three watches, and a Jerry Rice poster. My client was not arrested nor immediately charged. Even though no charges had been filed, two weeks later, Officer Tatum saw my client, who was a passenger in another vehicle, and detained him. He stopped the vehicle, found no marijuana, seized the vehicle, my client's watch, and earrings which he took directly out of my clienfs ears. My client was not arrested and was instead told to walk away by Officer Tatum Ultimately my cl· t h , 1en was c arged with possession of prescription medication for sale found during th h . ' e searc of h1s apartment. Except for the cash, all of the seized property was retumed to my I. t c ren, one year later. 4. Based on my experiences with Officer Tatum I t ld ' ' o an employee in the district attorneys office that I thought Tatum was a "rogue • office parking lot and confronted m c~p. Several days later he drove to my Y partner, Chns Andrian about appeared angry and threat . my comment. He enrng. Mr. Andrian was very concerned by th·as b ehavtor . descn"bed Officer Tatum d and an extremely agitated and shaking M A . . ' . r. ndnan has known Officer 5. Several days after that, Officer Tatum confronted me in the hallway in front oi Department 9. He interrupted me while I was discussing a case with Deputy D\str\ct Attornev Keith Shaw. I asked Tatum if he could wait a few minutes so I could finish my conversation . Tatum said, "no. n He looked angry and threatening. Mr. Shaw took two steps back. During the conversation 1 explained that I did not believe the law permitted him to stop my client anytime he saw fit and seize his vehicle and earrings out of his ears. Tatum's response was "your client is a drug dealer" as though this justified his stopping my client anytime he chose. His manner and tone were intimidating and threatening. Several other attorneys were present and witnessed this interaction, some of whom characterized Tatum's behavior as assaultive. 6. In addition to the above, the police report regarding the above mentioned case contained numerous false statements, particularly around the money that Officer Tatum seized. During the preliminary hearing, he made more false statements in an effort to explain the discrepancies contained in the police reports. As an example, when confronted with discrepancies in the amo~nt of cash taken during the numerous -searches of my client, Officer Tatum was unable to explain the differences in amounts in any way that made sense. I declare under penalty of pe~ury under the laws of the State of California that the foregojng is true and correct. Executed this March 14, 2016 at Santa Rosa , Cal•·".orn1a. . - -...-~,.,o:~,..;.,....,.,. _, ~-- .......~.., . ~~~·•n"'..-. 1 .. ..... , ..·.. •,. u. __.,..-:~ _,... >4%!.4.. we:.,. S, ,~. '"""'~.,·--·.- .,..-- .. 3 ---~~~---· _.. __, ..,_.,..,.,..,~ _ ·-· . •~ ... ·-~~--~fllllf!ll.ll!!!-:=' a - z .. _.t ,., .- ?? q__ L et . . ; . . . . . . DECLARATION OF.EVAN E. ZELIG I, ~~ ~•.Zelig, declare as follows: '_. · 3 1. I am an attorney licensed to practice in the State of California (SBN 228740); and further~ l 4 am licensed to practice in United States District Courts for the Southern, Eastern, Central~ and 5 Northern Districts of the State of California. 6 2. The State Bar of California has never disciplined me, nor have I ever received notice of a 7 complaint made to the State Bar of California by any of my former clients. 8 3. I have been licensed to practice law since December 2003. I have practiced law in Sonoma 9 County, CA since opening my law office in February 2009. 10 4. During my time in Sonoma County I have read numerous police reports authored by officers 11 and deputies from almost every state law enforcement agency, including the Rohnert Park 12 Department of Public Safety, where Officer Jacy Tatum is employed as a law enforcement 13 officer. 14 5. It is my opinion that Jacy Tatum has a reputation in the Sonoma County legal community for 15 being untruthful. 16 17 6. My opinion is, first, based on numerous complaints from my clients. These complaints regardi~g Jacy Tatum include my clients repeatedly telling me of ongoing harassment; repeated 18 complamts of traffic stops with false or made up reasonable suspicion I probable cause; repeated 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 unlawful searches of vehicles and homes based on :5 1 d . a se or rna e up probable cause; repeated complamts of racist comments being made toward those of Hispanic .. and often, repeated complaints of clients h . . ongin; and most notably avtng money seized during traffi amount greater than that which is book . . IC stop that is of an ed mto evidence or re ort d . investigation reports. p e In Tatum's incident and 7. The complaints about untruthful . ness regarding Jacy T tum' . seized c h d a s tnvolvem t · as an assets is so prevalent that h I en m cases involving w en have a eli t h money being "stolen" or the amount tak . en w o makes allegations invol . . en being sig ·fi VIng Into evidence, I now will ru Icantly more than that whi h . guess who the officer is b ~ c Is booked e1ore knowi ng or seeing the report. Each and Page 1 I. I am an attorney licensed to practice in the State of California (SBN 228740); and further, 1 3 4 am licensed to practice in United States District Courts for the Southern, Eastern, Central, and 5 Northern Districts of the State of California. 6 2. The State Bar of California has never disciplined me, nor have I ever received notice of a 7 complaint made to the State Bar of California by any of my former clients. 8 3. I have been licensed to practice law since December 2003. I have practiced law in Sonoma 9 County, CA since opening my law office in February 2009. 10 4. During my time in Sonoma County I have read numerous police reports authored by officers 11 and deputies from almost every state law enforcement agency, including the Rohnert Park 12 Department of Public Safety, where Officer Jacy Tatum is employed as a law enforcement 13 officer. 14 5. It is my opinion that Jacy Tatum has a reputation in the Sonoma County legal community for 15 being untruthful. 16 6. My opinion is, first, based on numerous complaints from my clients. These complaints 17 regarding Jacy Tatum include my clients repeatedly telling me of ongoing harassment; repeated 18 complaints of traffic stops with false or made up reasonable suspicion I probable cause; repeated 19 unlawful searches of vehicles and homes based on false or made up probable cause; repeated 20 complaints of racist comments being made toward those of Hispanic origin; and most notably 21 and often, repeated complaints of clients having money seized during traffic stop that is of an 22 amount greater than that which is booked into evidence or reported in Tatum's incident and 23 investigation reports. 24 7. The complaints about untruthfulness regarding Jacy Tatum's involvement in cases involving 25 seized cash and assets is so prevalent that when I have a client who makes allegations involving 26 money being "stolen" or the amount taken being significantly more than that which is booked 27 into evidence, I now will guess who the officer is before knowing or seeing the report. Each and 28 Page 1 ~,:>i" ·:, •, ·. ~I ; -~". ', • ~·-~:,-~~~~-0~-~~;:~~ --~ ~:~ 2c;.~~~.,~"'~'c~'"':~·.J,g*~~~~,~~im.~" I have been ~orrect. Most recently when I involved was Jacy Tatum~ guessed the officer based on the conduct reported, it was during a cash seizure that took 3 place in Cloverdale, CA- nowhere near Rohnert Park, CA where Jacy Tatum is employed and 4 has primary jurisdiction. I was, once again, correct in my guess as to the identification of the 5 officer. 6 8. If called to testify regarding the content of this Declaration I could, if necessary, testify as to 7 specific instances and client reports of untruthfulness and harassment, but will forgo inclusion of 8 those specifics herein out of concern for my clients' privacy and confidentiality; and for fear 9 those clients would again be harassed by Jacy Tatum following specific disclosure. 10 9. My opinion as to Jacy Tatum's reputation for untruthfulness is also, secondly, based on my 11 interactions with many other attorneys within the Sonoma County legal community. I have spent 12 more time discussing Jacy Tacum's untruthfulness and unprofessional conduct than any other 13 law enforcement officer in Sonoma County; and perhaps more than all others I have discussed 14 combined. 15 10. I am aware of no less than ten (10) attorneys practicing criminal defense in Sonoma County 16 who have each expressed their opinion, based on multiple specific instances of conduct, that Jacy 17 Tatum systematically engages in harassment of citizens; routinely profiles individuals in vehicles 18 for the purpose of stopping and unlawfully searching their vehicles; avoiding giving testimony at 19 scheduled court hearings by engaging citizens in traffic stops while on his way to court; making 20 racist and offensive comments to Hispanic citizens or those appearing to be of H' · . . Isparuc ongin; and repeatedly and systematically seizing US Currency and other valuabl t fr .. e asse s om Citizens often booking into evidence significantly less currency than wh t h 11 . , a as actua y been seized. 11. As I write this Declaration, I am fearful of Jacy Tatum 11 . . . persona y or othe!Wlse taking retaliatory actiOn against me in some way. I am aware th t h h a as e as done so toward other defense attorneys who have spoken out against his untruthful d . . . an unprofessional conduct S Including, most notably, a courthouse hallway interaction with tt a omey tephen Gallenson 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 n . became aggressive and threatened violence and physical harm toward Mr. Gallenson. 3 12. I have written this Declaration following a considerable amount of deliberation, but with a 4 sense of duty as an Attorney to both our legal community and the citizens of Sonoma County; 5 and also out of tremendous professional respect for those many other law enforcement officers 6 who choose to do their jobs honestly. 7 The foregoing statements are true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief, under 8 penalty of perjury of the State of California. 9 10 Respectfully submitted this 14th day of March 2016 at Santa Rosa, California 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Evan E. Zelig, Esq. Declarant