Stanislaus DA has never charged cops who kill. Why this time is different

For the first time since she was elected nearly 15 years ago, Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager has decided to prosecute an officer for an on-duty killing.

This is a big deal.

Maybe, finally, officers will have an extra reason to stop, think and consider something less than lethal force when they come upon difficult situations.

Joseph Lamantia, fired Thursday from the Modesto Police Department for the Dec. 29 killing of unarmed Trevor Seever, will face a voluntary manslaughter charge, Fladager’s office announced after investigating.

Prosecutors each day work hand-in-glove with police and deputies, guiding through the courts the cases begun by officers. A good working relationship is important to the success of this law enforcement team.

It can’t be easy for a district attorney to turn that relationship on its head, to take a natural partner and seek his punishment with the same gusto shown other killers.

Fladager, like many top prosecutors, has been reluctant to do so these many years, even when others thought she should. Time and again, she has sided with her natural partners and excused their deadly aim.

A recent example was Fladager’s refusal to hold accountable Ross Bays, a former Ceres policeman who shot Carmen Spencer Mendez in the back as he fled, killing the 15-year-old. The Modesto Bee declared that a “bad shoot” and Ceres leaders essentially agreed, paying Mendez’s survivors $2.1 million to settle a wrongful-death lawsuit. But Fladager noted that Mendez had been armed, and let Bays off the hook.

Another bad shoot ended the life of Evin Yadegar, a Modesto woman suffering a mental crisis when she edged her car away from Deputy Sheriff Justin Wall in 2017. That tragic lapse of judgment cost the county $7 million in a lawsuit settlement. Fladager was spared the agony of deciding whether to charge Wall, because he killed Yadegar in San Joaquin County after a slow-speed chase from Stanislaus. His voluntary manslaughter trial recently was delayed a fourth time.

Some will remember that Fladager’s office prosecuted former sheriff’s Detective Kari Abbey, who shot and killed a woman in 2010, and a federal officer who killed a coworker outside a north Modesto bar in 2012. Both were off-duty confrontations.

Yet to be announced is whether Fladager will charge deputies in the unnecessary death of Eloy Gonzalez. The deputies showed no patience for his obvious mental problems and they — not Gonzalez — escalated the tension. The Modesto Bee urges Fladager to do the right thing and hold them accountable.

Gonzalez was killed in September — three months before Lamantia killed Seever. Why is Lamantia’s case proceeding so rapidly?

The facts left little wiggle room for interim Modesto Police Chief Brandon Gillespie, and by extension, Fladager.

Let’s pause to remember that Fladager had refused to charge Lamantia for killing before, one person in 2010 and three in 2016 (he and other officers also shot a suspected murderer in a Stockton park in October, but that looks justified and the man survived).

Why Modesto cop is charged

This time, meaning Dec. 29, Seever was unarmed when Lamantia spotted him outside a Modesto church, jumped from his patrol vehicle and opened fire — seven rounds within seconds. Seever presented no threat to the officer, who chose the most extreme reaction possible, disregarding department policy and hours of deescalation training. He chose to shoot first and ask questions later despite national attention focused on police brutality since the May killing of George Floyd by a now-fired Minneapolis policeman whose trial is underway.

Footage from police body cameras clears most officers of wrongdoing, but galvanizes public opinion when wrongdoing is plainly seen.

Seever’s family and friends, incensed at what they saw, have bombarded the Modesto City Council with complaints and pleas in recent meetings. Joined by local advocacy groups, they held two protest rallies that drew media coverage.

This editorial board, incredulous at the same footage, called for Lamantia to be fired and criminally charged as far back as Jan. 8. He’s lucky he’s not facing second-degree murder.

Modesto City Hall, eager to be rid of a trigger-happy cop, put Lamantia’s dismissal on a fast track. It’s hard to imagine Gillespie not terminating an officer with so little regard for life and for department policy.

And that made Fladager’s decision all the easier. It’s hard to imagine her not charging a killer cop condemned by his own agency.

Seever, of course, had no say in his death.

The person in this tragedy who gave no one a choice was Lamantia. Appropriately, the judicial system will determine his fate.

This story was originally published March 21, 2021 at 5:00 AM.