For over a year there was a pattern of police use of force deaths, in San Mateo County. This pattern culminated, in the October 3, 2018 Millbrae death of 36 year old pedestrian Chinedu Okobi.
Despite what would appear to any reasonably objective observer, an escalating body count, Mr Wagstaffe, as District Attorney, did nothing to address / curb the situation. And now, his administration is seemingly poised to render a decision blaming Okobi’s death, on something other than the unnecessary & excessive use of force by officers. This is a familiar pattern with DA Steve Wagstaffe, with his having blamed previous deaths on the decedents -their respective acts & medical conditions.
Most recently, he went on television saying he was not going to speculate on the Okobi case, that he had to get all the facts, before rendering a decision on the matter. Yet, instead of keeping his word, he went on camera and questioned the product liability aspect of Tasers, a device repeatedly used by officers, in their confrontation of Okobi .
Mr. Wagstaffe ignored a year long prologue of police use of force deaths, in his very jurisdiction. And then he told us he was not going to release videos, in his possession, ones which depict exactly what had happened, in the most recent death, that of Mr. Okobi.
Chinedu Valentine Okobi
Just as his office had excluded two African American’s from serving on the jury in the Tracey Biletnikoff murder case, a matter in which he had been criticized by the appellate court. This was a Murder Conviction reversed because of Wagstaffe’s behavior. “During jury selection, the prosecutor, Stephen Wagstaffe, peremptorily struck the only two African-American members of the jury pool… We hold that a comparative juror analysis, in combination with other facts in the record, demonstrates that the prosecutor’s purported race-neutral reasons for striking at least one of the jurors were pretexts for racial discrimination.”
He now says he is not going to release the videos and audio recordings of Chinedu’s murder to the public, his employers, so that they can see them.
The People do not need an interpreter, to understand what they are seeing for themselves, Mr. Wagstaffe.
Okobi’s mother and sister were shown the videos and audio recordings, and here is what his sister, Ebele, said about them:
It’s readily apparent you are struggling to shoehorn your narrative of what occurred with the facts and, in so doing, you have passed the rubicon of truthfulness, leaving honesty & integrity behind, and entering a sea of deception -familiar territory for yourself, a directed or desired outcome.
The taint and stench you and your cadre have brought to the office of district attorney is palpable and, I submit, can not be removed, without your & their removal.
Felony fraud resulting in the diversion of over 2 million dollars of public monies being characterized by your office as sloppy accounting practices, at San Mateo County Transit, is but one / just one example of DA Wagstaffe’s aversion to the truth. False debits are not errors or sloppy accounting, Steve, they are intentional criminal acts.
Here is the letter from Albert Serrato falsely declaring that no crimes were committed in the SamTrans fraud brought by 3 whistleblowers, who were accountants and risked and lost their own jobs.
The bias you have demonstrated, when it comes to Sheriff Carlos Bolanos and former Sheriff Greg Munks, excusing their abhorrent behavior & giving them a pass, when they were detained by Las Vegas metropolitan police and the FBI, in a human trafficking investigation, one in which they had gone to a home being used as a whorehouse in a rundown residential neighborhood with Asian indentured sex-slaves, at least one of whom was a minor, and a cache (3,500 tablets) of illegal ecstasy drugs, is reprehensible and not in keeping with the public’s trust, Steve.
In that unguarded moment, in what you thought would be a confidential email to the duo, you expressed your support and consoled the two that the matter would soon pass and become yesterday’s news. This provides a rare glimpse into the flawed (real) character & thinking of who is District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.
Here are those emails, #ThoseWhoMatter:
The fact that Okobi’s killers are back at work, armed, with unfeathered contact with the public & custodies alike, is testament to the fact DA Wagstaffe has cleared them and communicated this information to Sheriff Bolanos. Yet he is still massaging his findings to the public, delaying what he has obviously determined -that the officers’ use of force resulting in Okobi’s death was justified (reasonable) and that he and his office are going to do nothing about it, giving them a pass.
You are a snake oil salesman, Steve, selling the public adultered versions of the truth and being a shill for morally corrupt county officials. Release the videos, so we can see just how much!
If you as the reader are asking, “How on Earth is Steve Wagstaffe still the District Attorney of San Mateo County.” You are on the right track. The short answer is that you are responsible for him being there. He can only be recalled or voted out. He has full immunity for anything he does.
By Michael G. Stogner
(12) comments
Anna Schuessler Daily Journal staff has this statement wrong–Lopez will next appear in court Jan. 25 to set a new jury trial date for the embezzlement, perjury and election fraud charges and is out of custody on a $170,000 bail bond, according to prosecutors.
Jan. 25, 2018 is to hear the motion for 2nd case remaining charges.
SM Daily Journal , please contact his attorney for clarification.
To correct the San Mateo Daily Journal, former Deputy Juan Pablo Lopez next court hearing is January 25, 2018. I am requesting the newspaper to contact his attorney about this date.
Let’s see if the local media covers Mr. Juan Pablo Lopez ( Former SMC Deputy ) on his next hearings.
I hope the local and national media will follow the rest of this case, I am sure the rest of the phony charges will be dropped.
When will the San Mateo County public/voters going to wake up?
San Mateo County District Attorney’s office is trying to destroy former Deputy Sheriff Juan Lopez.
I hope someone will get this to the national media.
I can only imagine how much money this is causing former Deputy Juan Lopez.
PLEASE HELP GET THIS OUT TO EVERYONE!!!
Let me get this straight. Wagstaffe’s little pal Sheriff Munks and Under-sheriff Carlos Bolanos are caught going into a house of underaged trafficked prostitution in Las Vegas in 2007, for their own recreation. Wagstaffe defends them to the hilt and says they did nothing wrong. He sweeps it under the rug.
But when a clean deputy decides to run against the corruption of the San Mateo Sheriff, Wagstaffe and Munks punish him by cooking up suspect charges that don’t hold up light when examined AND hold a big press conference to announce it? Lopez wasn’t the one caught going into a place with underaged trafficked girls. The fact that someone dared to challenge the corrupt sheriff angered Wagstaffe and Munks. Something is rotten in San Mateo County
Great statements!!!!
research about Mr. Lopez and San Mateo the last 3 years is quite a story.
if the con wrote a letter exonerating Lopez,why was it a case for 3 years?
The District Attorney’s Office withheld the letters from the Grand Jury, and offered a not so truthful representation of what the Jailhouse snitch actually said. To this day there has been ZERO evidence that Sheriff Deputy Juan P. Lopez was connected to the cellphone/s and drugs, and the DA’s Office has always known that fact. Disgusting behavior.
It’s about time, After over 3 years of the District Attorney’s lies and false charges against Former Sheriff Deputy Juan P. Lopez and others a Judge finally got to see what the DA’s office has done. It shouldn’t take over 3 years to present your side of a case. This dismissal makes 4 for 4 defendants charges dismissed.
San Mateo County D.A.’s office has a long list of cases of injustice, for the people who know, lies are not too uncommon.