| Pamela Price | |
| Office: | 14th District Attorney of Alameda County |
| Term Start: | January 3, 2023 |
| Predecessor: | Nancy O'Malley |
| Birth Place: | Dayton, Ohio, U.S. |
| Party: | Democratic |
| Education: | Yale University (BA) University of California, Berkeley (JD) |
Pamela Y. Price (born 1957) is an American attorney and public servant serving as the District Attorney of Alameda County, California, since January 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she is the first African-American woman to hold the office.[1]
Price faced a recall in the 2024 election.[2] [3] In November 2024, she was successfully recalled by her constituents.[4] [5] [6] [7]
Price was born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1957.[8] She experienced the Ohio juvenile justice and foster care system.[9] She received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science in 1978 from Yale University. She received a Juris Doctor from the UC Berkeley School of Law in 1982.[10] She worked as defense and civil rights attorney and she started her own firm in 1991 specializing in employment law and representing victims of retaliation, wrongful termination, sexual assaults, and discrimination.
In 2018, she ran for Mayor of Oakland and lost against incumbent Libby Schaaf with 13.1% of the votes. In 2018 she also ran in the nonpartisan primary for Alameda County District Attorney and lost against incumbent Nancy O'Malley with 42.2% of the votes. She ran on a policy of police accountability.
O'Malley announced plans to retire at the end of her third term and did not seek re-election in 2022. Price won the 2022 Alameda County District Attorney election on November 8, 2022, against Terry Wiley with 53.15% of the votes. She is the first Black woman to serve as Alameda County District Attorney, the first person to be elected District Attorney without already being appointed to the office, and the first person to take the role without having worked in the District Attorney Office. She ran on a platform centered on rehabilitation and addressing instances of police misconduct.[11] She pledged to terminate the utilization of the death penalty, cease the practice of charging individuals under the age of 18 as adults, establish a unit dedicated to ensuring the integrity of convictions, and enhance services for victims of gun violence. She started her tenure in January 2023.[10]
In her first month in office, Price reopened eight cases involving law enforcement-involved death. Also in March 2023, Price distributed a preliminary version of updated sentencing guidelines within her department. These policies align with her commitment to reduce or eliminate mass incarceration, particularly for young offenders, as outlined in one of the ten points of her campaign platform aimed at curbing the over-criminalization of youth.[8]
In March 2023, when asked for an update to the Jasper Wu case, in which gang members killed a 23-month-old toddler named Jasper Wu when they were having a shootout on a highway in November 2021, Price responded with an email which read in part: "Our office is currently working on a partnership with the Asian Law Caucus to support AAPI victims of violence in ways that open up broader possibilities for healing and non-carceral forms of accountability."[12] Price kept the murder charges with a gang enhancement in the Jasper Wu case. If convicted, the defendants may face more than one hundred years in prison.[13]
On April 14, 2023, a "special directive" issued by the district attorney's office established a guideline whereby prosecutors are encouraged to refrain from seeking elevated sentences for serious offenses if the imposition of such sentences would lead to a disproportionate "racial impact".[14]
In January 2024, Price's office was removed from a misdemeanor case involving former prosecutor Amilcar Ford, who had become one of her major critics. Ford had been charged the previous year by her office with a little-used charged of defending after public prosecution as the prosecutor. Ford had made a declaration supporting a bid to disqualify Price from former San Leandro police officer Jason Fletcher, who had fatally shot a man inside a Walmart while on duty. Price was later removed from the Fletcher case as well due to a judge's concern about impartial comments she had made in that case. Price filed appeals against her removal on both the Ford and Fletcher case, with her appeal on the Ford case being rejected in July 2024 due to her "repeated comments in this case against the defendant."[15]
On February 26, 2024, Patti Lee, a spokeswoman hired and fired by DA Pamela Price, alleged that she was fired for raising concerns about alleged California Public Records Act violations and claimed that Price has "constantly and openly" made derogatory comments against Asian Americans. She is seeking a $1.5 million settlement.[16] [17]
On July 11, 2024, governor Gavin Newsom rescinded an offer he had made in February to send state and California National Guard prosecutors to Alameda County due to what he described as "her office not being cooperative." Newsom quadrupled the number of California Highway Patrol officers in the city instead.[18]
On October 31, 2024, a veteran law enforcement officer with over two decades of service in the Alameda County District Attorney’s office has filed a lawsuit alleging termination due to anti-Asian discrimination by Pamela Price. The 85-page lawsuit details multiple instances of discrimination. According to the lawsuit, Price is allegedly relying on racial stereotypes portraying Asian Americans as “sneaky, cunning [and] untrustworthy.”[19] This lawsuit adds to previous allegations against Price, including claims by former employees of anti-Asian bias and discriminatory practices within her office.[20] Price has denied these allegations.
In August 2023, some critics of Pamela Price filed the intent-to-recall paperwork to begin the process of trying to recall her from office, as they claimed that she is too soft on crime.[21] In October, a group called SAFE (Save Alameda For Everyone) launched a campaign to collect 73,195 valid signatures required by the county charter to put the recall to a vote.[22] In March 2024 SAFE submitted 127,387 signatures to county officials to be verified after spending more than $2.2 million on the signature drive effort to recall her.[23]
On March 5, 2024, Alameda County voters approved a change to the Alameda County charter to modify the recall procedure and have it aligned with the California state law regarding the recall of elective officers.[24]
On April 15, the Alameda County Registrar of Voters stated that enough valid signatures has been submitted to trigger a recall election. Under the county charter, the proponents needed a minimum of 73,195 valid signatures. The number of valid signatures on the petition was 74,757, and the total number of signatures disqualified was 48,617.[25]
On May 14, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors set the election date to November 5, 2024 together with the general election. The board vote was unanimous.[26] If Price is recalled, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors will select a temporary district attorney. This individual will hold the role for two years until the next regular election in 2026. [27]
Following the November 5, 2024 general election vote, Price was recalled. [28] [29]
According to an analysis from the San Francisco Chronicle, the voters who turned against Pamela Price tended to live in the poorest and most heavily Black and Latino parts of the Alameda County.[30]