Gascón advisor and Assistant DA charged with misuse of police records
A lead advisor to Los Angeles Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón tasked with overseeing public corruption and police misconduct cases is facing felony charges accusing her of illegally downloading confidential law enforcement records.
The criminal complaint filed Wednesday by California Attorney General Rob Bonta alleges Assistant DA Diana Teran obtained the files in 2018 while she was working as the LA County Sheriff's Department's constitutional policing advisor. In that role, she advised department officials on personnel investigations and disciplinary actions in matters such as police shootings and in-custody deaths.
Bonta has accused Teran of misusing records she accessed during that time once she was working in the DA's office. In a statement from the state attorney general's office, he said the charges were filed following an "extensive investigation."
"No one is above the law," Bonta said in a statement announcing the 11 felony counts.
"Public officials are called to serve the people and the State of California with integrity and honesty," Bonta said. "At the California Department of Justice, we will continue to fight for the people of California and hold those who break the law accountable."
Teran joined Gascón's office in 2021 as a special advisor and was later charged with running the office's Justice System Integrity Unit, which prosecutes crimes committed by public officials and reviews cases of police shootings and use of force leading to serious injury.
State prosecutors allege she used confidential records without authorization -- violations of California's Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act. The criminal complaint requesting a warrant for her arrest states the records involve 11 sheriff's deputies.
Her attorney, James W. Spertus, said Thursday that the documents she accessed were either public record or made public under California's Senate Bill 1421, which makes police records involving corruption, use-of-force cases, or sexual assault public under the state's Public Records Act.
"The charges are defective on their face and will be dismissed as soon as a court reviews them," Spertus said.
However, that law went into effect Jan. 1, 2019, and the charges involve alleged crimes committed in 2018.
Still, Spertus said Teran did not violate the state's Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act because that law makes an exception for people accessing records when it's within the scope of their employment.
"Regardless, Ms. Teran's official duties at the DA's office was to oversee the DA's internal database of officer misconduct findings to ensure compliance with the DA's constitutional obligations under Brady, and a person cannot be charged with a crime for fulfilling an official duty," Spertus said.
In a statement Thursday, Gascón said his office will cooperate with the investigation by state prosecutors. He said he cannot comment on matters involving specific members of his staff.
However, in the statement responding to the charges, the DA also said his office keeps a 'Brady list' -- a database of law enforcement misconduct records, from public complaints to use-of-force reports, which must be turned over to the defense.
The landmark 1963 Brady vs. Maryland decision by the Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors cannot withhold evidence that could help the defense and must turn it all over, including records exposing a law enforcement official's lack of credibility or past corruption.
Gascón said his office maintains a Brady list while still "complying with state and federal law around privacy."
"I stand by that protocol," he said.