Livermore police chief discusses letter calling for harsher charges from Alameda DA Price
LIVERMORE - In an uncharacteristic move, Livermore Police Chief Jeramy Young publicly addressed Alameda DA Pamela Price in a letter, imploring her to consider harsher penalties for a repeat offender.
"The facts in this case are very troubling," said Chief Jeramy Young. He's been with Livermore Police since 2014, and was promoted to chief in 2020. For the first time in his law enforcement career, he says he was forced to publicly disagree with the district attorney's office.
"I didn't feel like I was speaking out against her. I just felt like it was a communication to her in an effort to get her to consider the charges I thought were relevant," said Chief Young.
This all stems from two incidents that happened on Sunday, May 21st in the Arroyo Shopping Center on First Street in Livermore. Police say around 5 p.m. 21-year-old Colby Berry from Fremont violently attacked one woman in an attempt to steal her purse, and when he was unsuccessful, targeted another woman - robbing her at gunpoint.
The chief says shortly after detectives identified Berry as a suspect, they learned he had already been convicted of multiple felonies and was on parole and wearing an ankle monitor at the time of the robberies. Livermore police asked for sentencing enhancements that would add additional jail time for Berry if he was convicted.
"I always thought the enhancements would be filed because they apply and it seems like they're meant for circumstance just like this," said Chief Young.
But Chief Young says District Attorney Pamela Price did not file the enhanced charges against Berry, which prompted him to write a letter on July 6th asking Price to reconsider. In the letter he stated the enhancements are "necessary tools to safeguard the public against an individual who poses a clear danger to their safety".
The district attorney's office would not respond to multiple requests from KPIX 5 for comment on this case, but in an interview with KPIX's Betty Yu a week ago, Price said she does not believe in automatically adding sentencing enhancements and instead prefers diversion programs.
"Any time that we can divert someone from the criminal justice system, that is a goal. Because the criminal justice system has been shown to be racially biased," Price said during an interview on Sunday, July 16.
The suspect in the case, Colby Berry, is currently being held on $350,000 bail and is scheduled to make his next court appearance on August 11.