Officer's Defense in Mario Gonzalez Case Claims DA's Office Is Withholding Key Evidence

Updated 3:30 p.m. Friday

Attorneys representing the only Alameda police officer still facing charges in the 2021 death of Mario Gonzalez argued in an explosive motion this week that a forensic pathologist who is central to the case recently met with the district attorney’s office and made statements critical of the prosecution.

In court Friday, Officer Eric McKinley’s defense lawyers argued a motion that accuses the Alameda County district attorney’s office of withholding information that could exonerate their client. Among that information is a meeting the district attorney’s office had with independent pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu — who conducted an autopsy on Gonzalez — in which he said he “believes this case to be a ‘political’ prosecution,” according to the defense motion. Omalu also said the officers did not commit criminal misconduct and should not be prosecuted, the motion says.

The judge took arguments under submission, indicating he would rule later on whether the prosecution needs to provide McKinley’s defense attorneys with copies of Omalu’s statements.

Edith Arenales, Gonzalez’s mother, felt at a loss after the hearing.

“What can I say? I believe in God, and I’m still hoping they check the second autopsy, they find out a lot of stuff completely different from what they say, so it is what it is,” she told KQED.

An attorney representing Omalu said he “wishes to have no involvement in this matter.” Omalu also issued a written statement explaining that he did not expect his findings to be used in a criminal prosecution and that he does not wish to testify in the case because the criminal prosecution “goes against his core personal and religious beliefs and values.”

McKinley is arguing that the prosecution has unnecessarily stalled discovery in the case in other ways as well, indefinitely delaying an important preliminary hearing that had been set for earlier this week.

The district attorney’s office declined to comment on the defense allegations. Arguing in court Friday, an Alameda County prosecutor said Omalu “has feelings about the case but he stands by his report.” The prosecution also argued that Omalu never contradicted his findings on the cause of Gonzalez’s death, which he determined was asphyxiation from being physically restrained.

McKinley was charged with felony involuntary manslaughter by District Attorney Pamela Price in April, reversing her predecessor Nancy O’Malley’s findings of no criminal wrongdoing by officers. The same charges were also brought against two other officers involved in Gonzalez’s death, but they were dismissed in October after filing errors by the district attorney’s office allowed the statute of limitations to expire.

What will happen to the case now that Price has been recalled from office is unknown. Whoever is selected as the new district attorney by the Board of Supervisors will have the power to drop the case if they see fit.

“It is so sad for me to hear that it can be or cannot, but that is why we are here, not only me, but the family of Steven Taylor, another victim of police brutality,” Arenales said. “I’m scared for real though when I hear that they can drop the case because they’re not supposed to have to drop it because they have good evidence.”

Gonzalez, 26, was unarmed when McKinley along with officers James Fisher and Cameron Leahy approached him in an Alameda park on April 19, 2021, responding to 911 calls about a man behaving erratically. Body camera footage shows the officers attempting to detain Gonzalez, eventually taking him to the ground and pinning him down on his stomach.

Gonzalez is shown murmuring to himself as the officers hold him down. At least one officer was shown pressing an elbow and knee into Gonzalez’s back and shoulder.

When Gonzalez became unresponsive after being held down for several minutes, the officers rolled him onto his side. He had stopped breathing, and the officers administered CPR in addition to two doses of Narcan. Gonzalez was eventually taken to the hospital and declared dead.

An initial autopsy report released by the Alameda County coroner declared Gonzalez’s death a homicide but cited methamphetamine toxicity, obesity, alcoholism and stress as the primary causes behind his cardiac arrest.

A second autopsy, which was conducted independently by Omalu at the request of Gonzalez’s family, showed differently, however. According to that autopsy report, Gonzalez’s death was caused by “restraint asphyxiation.”

“If not for his asphyxial brain injury, Mr. Gonzalez-Arenales, more likely than not, would not have died and was not expected to die on April 19, 2021,” the report says.

McKinley’s defense argues those findings by Omalu led to an official determination that officers used unreasonable or excessive force when they pinned Gonzalez to the ground. And if Omalu disputes the prosecution’s interpretation of his findings, it could undermine a central piece of the case.

“The People’s failure to disclose even the existence of such a meeting with a witness as critical to the People’s fundamental theory of guilt as Dr. Omalu is emblematic of the People’s utter disregard for their duties,” the defense motion says.