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Amilcar "Butch" Ford outside court Friday morning, July 21, 2023. Emilie Raguso/The Berkeley Scanner
Former Alameda County prosecutor Amilcar "Butch" Ford had his first court appearance as a defendant Friday after being charged this week with a misdemeanor by District Attorney Pamela Price.
And, if Friday is any indication, the DA's office is in for a fight.
On the record before Judge Clifford Blakely, Ford repeatedly described the prosecutor on the case, Leah Abraham, as inexperienced. He advised her, while walking out of court, to get "backup."
"She better get some help," Ford told reporters after the brief hearing Friday morning at the Wiley Manuel Courthouse in Oakland. "She's not ready. She has no experience."
Ford represented himself in his initial appearance Friday but said he will be represented by a team of attorneys as the case proceeds.
The DA's office says Ford broke the law by providing help to a defendant on a case on which he allegedly appeared at least once as an Alameda County prosecutor. If found guilty, he could be disbarred.
Ford says he's done nothing wrong and that Price is going after him because he's been a whistleblower, vocally criticizing the new DA and her administration.
Ford ran Alameda County's felony trial team until Price put him on administrative leave as one of her first big moves in January. He resigned in May to work as a prosecutor under Brooke Jenkins in San Francisco.
Ford was not slated to appear in court on his case until July 31, but things changed abruptly this week after Abraham included Ford's home address on two different public court documents.
The Government Code and the Alameda County prosecutors' contract both protect the home address of DAs as confidential due to the nature of their work and the potential safety risks they face as a result of it.
On Wednesday morning, two days after the case was filed, the union sent Price a letter asking for Ford's court records to be redacted or sealed so the address was not visible.
"Any disclosure of the home address of a current or former deputy or senior/assistant district attorney raises serious concerns for that individual’s personal safety," the union wrote. "As such, we would expect such information to remain confidential regardless of whether it pertains to a current or former employee."
The union asked for a prompt response due to the potential safety risks.
"Given the publicity this case has already received, as well as the safety concerns that public dissemination of such information implicates, we request that this be done immediately," the union wrote.
According to Ford, neither Price nor her deputies, Otis Bruce Jr. and Royl Roberts, responded at any point Wednesday.
In the meantime, the court sealed one of the documents and redacted the other one after being alerted to the problem by Ford associates.
One person familiar with the situation said it was ironic for Price to have been unresponsive to Ford's security concerns given that she has her own security detail made up of DA inspectors — who are law enforcement officers — who have at times provided overnight security at her home and have regularly driven her between home and work.
On Thursday, Ford said he learned that Abraham had asked for a hearing Friday to address the matter — even though it had already been handled "by the court on its own," Ford said.
That's what brought the two attorneys together Friday morning before Judge Blakely.
Relations between the two prosecutors were frosty from the jump. When Abraham approached Ford in the gallery before the judge took the bench, Ford rebuffed her.
"Don't speak to me off the record," he told her. "I only speak to real attorneys."
Abraham walked back to the jury box and took her seat, sipping periodically from a large travel mug and using her cellphone screen as a mirror to review her appearance before court began.
When Blakely took up the matter around 9:40 a.m., Ford told the judge he had handled cases involving serious criminals, including serial killers and serial rapists. He called the release of his personal information and the risk to his family "inexcusable."
Ford said the DA's office made the information public "on purpose."
"Nothing was done on purpose," Abraham told the judge. "I just want to put it on the record since the accusation was made."
Judge Blakely said the address had no evidentiary value and ordered it to be redacted from all materials related to the case.
After court, Abraham said she would provide a statement on the matter in response to an email request but, in the end, did not respond to that request.
The DA's office has not responded to two requests for comment this week about why the confidential information was released to the public.
Leah Abraham at a court hearing in June (file photo). Emilie Raguso/TBS
Abraham joined the Alameda County DA's office in February, according to her LinkedIn page, after beginning her law career as a clerk with several Bay Area public defenders' offices.
She then worked with the Alameda County public defender's office as an attorney for nearly five years.
Abraham was then hired as a prosecutor under Chesa Boudin in San Francisco, where she worked for nearly 2.5 years. She left in July 2022, the same month Boudin left after his recall.
She began at the Alameda County DA's office after an eight-month fellowship with Fair and Just Prosecution.
Ford, meanwhile, worked for the Alameda County DA's office for more than 20 years.
The California District Attorneys Association named him Outstanding Prosecutor of the Year in 2019, noting that he was revered by victims, witnesses and their families, as well as younger lawyers: "He instills a faith and trust in the criminal justice system."
At the time, his office wrote about the award on Facebook, saying Ford had "tried 20 misdemeanor cases and 62 felony cases to verdict, convicting 73 defendants of some of the most horrific crimes in Alameda County. Thirty of these cases involved murder charges."
He can be outspoken and even brash, and has made waves as a result.
In 2020, a murder case he prosecuted was overturned on appeal, but that hinged on the judge's response to a juror question, according to court records.
In its ruling, the appeals court said Ford misstated the law but specified that there was "no claim of prosecutorial misconduct before us."
Ford has also faced allegations of misconduct, including in a defense motion in 2021 that referenced the murder case described above. (A judge ultimately rejected that motion, saying it failed to meet the legal standard, the East Bay Times reported.)
Ford "has no public discipline on his record," said Rick Coca, a spokesman for the State Bar of California, on Friday.
When asked generally about the business code section under which Ford is charged, Coca said there have only been four cases since 2019 "where a possible violation of B&P 6131(b) was considered, and none resulted in the filing of a Notice of Disciplinary Charges by the Office of Chief Trial Counsel. It is a rare occurrence."
The section prohibits a prosecutor who has been involved in a criminal case from subsequently helping with the defense.
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Just for reference, the case in question involved San Leadro PD Officer Jason Fletcher shooting Steven Taylor, a gentle giant who went nuts in a Walmart and started swinging around a baseball bat. After multiple taser shots failed to take Taylor down, and Taylor advanced on Fletcher (in a situation where he could not have safely retreated without risking walking into a shelf or one of the other melanated individuals who was cheering on the trial by combat), Fletcher delivered a single shot to Taylor's chest.
Amilcar "Butch" Ford outside court Friday morning, July 21, 2023. Emilie Raguso/The Berkeley Scanner
Former Alameda County prosecutor Amilcar "Butch" Ford had his first court appearance as a defendant Friday after being charged this week with a misdemeanor by District Attorney Pamela Price.
And, if Friday is any indication, the DA's office is in for a fight.
On the record before Judge Clifford Blakely, Ford repeatedly described the prosecutor on the case, Leah Abraham, as inexperienced. He advised her, while walking out of court, to get "backup."
"She better get some help," Ford told reporters after the brief hearing Friday morning at the Wiley Manuel Courthouse in Oakland. "She's not ready. She has no experience."
Ford represented himself in his initial appearance Friday but said he will be represented by a team of attorneys as the case proceeds.
The DA's office says Ford broke the law by providing help to a defendant on a case on which he allegedly appeared at least once as an Alameda County prosecutor. If found guilty, he could be disbarred.
Ford says he's done nothing wrong and that Price is going after him because he's been a whistleblower, vocally criticizing the new DA and her administration.
Ford ran Alameda County's felony trial team until Price put him on administrative leave as one of her first big moves in January. He resigned in May to work as a prosecutor under Brooke Jenkins in San Francisco.
Ford was not slated to appear in court on his case until July 31, but things changed abruptly this week after Abraham included Ford's home address on two different public court documents.
The Government Code and the Alameda County prosecutors' contract both protect the home address of DAs as confidential due to the nature of their work and the potential safety risks they face as a result of it.
On Wednesday morning, two days after the case was filed, the union sent Price a letter asking for Ford's court records to be redacted or sealed so the address was not visible.
"Any disclosure of the home address of a current or former deputy or senior/assistant district attorney raises serious concerns for that individual’s personal safety," the union wrote. "As such, we would expect such information to remain confidential regardless of whether it pertains to a current or former employee."
The union asked for a prompt response due to the potential safety risks.
"Given the publicity this case has already received, as well as the safety concerns that public dissemination of such information implicates, we request that this be done immediately," the union wrote.
According to Ford, neither Price nor her deputies, Otis Bruce Jr. and Royl Roberts, responded at any point Wednesday.
In the meantime, the court sealed one of the documents and redacted the other one after being alerted to the problem by Ford associates.
One person familiar with the situation said it was ironic for Price to have been unresponsive to Ford's security concerns given that she has her own security detail made up of DA inspectors — who are law enforcement officers — who have at times provided overnight security at her home and have regularly driven her between home and work.
On Thursday, Ford said he learned that Abraham had asked for a hearing Friday to address the matter — even though it had already been handled "by the court on its own," Ford said.
That's what brought the two attorneys together Friday morning before Judge Blakely.
Relations between the two prosecutors were frosty from the jump. When Abraham approached Ford in the gallery before the judge took the bench, Ford rebuffed her.
"Don't speak to me off the record," he told her. "I only speak to real attorneys."
Abraham walked back to the jury box and took her seat, sipping periodically from a large travel mug and using her cellphone screen as a mirror to review her appearance before court began.
When Blakely took up the matter around 9:40 a.m., Ford told the judge he had handled cases involving serious criminals, including serial killers and serial rapists. He called the release of his personal information and the risk to his family "inexcusable."
Ford said the DA's office made the information public "on purpose."
"Nothing was done on purpose," Abraham told the judge. "I just want to put it on the record since the accusation was made."
Judge Blakely said the address had no evidentiary value and ordered it to be redacted from all materials related to the case.
After court, Abraham said she would provide a statement on the matter in response to an email request but, in the end, did not respond to that request.
The DA's office has not responded to two requests for comment this week about why the confidential information was released to the public.
Leah Abraham at a court hearing in June (file photo). Emilie Raguso/TBS
Abraham joined the Alameda County DA's office in February, according to her LinkedIn page, after beginning her law career as a clerk with several Bay Area public defenders' offices.
She then worked with the Alameda County public defender's office as an attorney for nearly five years.
Abraham was then hired as a prosecutor under Chesa Boudin in San Francisco, where she worked for nearly 2.5 years. She left in July 2022, the same month Boudin left after his recall.
She began at the Alameda County DA's office after an eight-month fellowship with Fair and Just Prosecution.
Ford, meanwhile, worked for the Alameda County DA's office for more than 20 years.
The California District Attorneys Association named him Outstanding Prosecutor of the Year in 2019, noting that he was revered by victims, witnesses and their families, as well as younger lawyers: "He instills a faith and trust in the criminal justice system."
At the time, his office wrote about the award on Facebook, saying Ford had "tried 20 misdemeanor cases and 62 felony cases to verdict, convicting 73 defendants of some of the most horrific crimes in Alameda County. Thirty of these cases involved murder charges."
He can be outspoken and even brash, and has made waves as a result.
In 2020, a murder case he prosecuted was overturned on appeal, but that hinged on the judge's response to a juror question, according to court records.
In its ruling, the appeals court said Ford misstated the law but specified that there was "no claim of prosecutorial misconduct before us."
Ford has also faced allegations of misconduct, including in a defense motion in 2021 that referenced the murder case described above. (A judge ultimately rejected that motion, saying it failed to meet the legal standard, the East Bay Times reported.)
Ford "has no public discipline on his record," said Rick Coca, a spokesman for the State Bar of California, on Friday.
When asked generally about the business code section under which Ford is charged, Coca said there have only been four cases since 2019 "where a possible violation of B&P 6131(b) was considered, and none resulted in the filing of a Notice of Disciplinary Charges by the Office of Chief Trial Counsel. It is a rare occurrence."
The section prohibits a prosecutor who has been involved in a criminal case from subsequently helping with the defense.
-----------------
Just for reference, the case in question involved San Leadro PD Officer Jason Fletcher shooting Steven Taylor, a gentle giant who went nuts in a Walmart and started swinging around a baseball bat. After multiple taser shots failed to take Taylor down, and Taylor advanced on Fletcher (in a situation where he could not have safely retreated without risking walking into a shelf or one of the other melanated individuals who was cheering on the trial by combat), Fletcher delivered a single shot to Taylor's chest.
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and gets unspecified help from the prosecutor, Which leads to the prosecutor being charged with the crime of heresy against our democracy
