A California prosecutor said Thursday he intends to dismiss 14 misdemeanor criminal cases because they were handled by San Jose, California, police officers linked to offensive content on Facebook.
The reportedly racist and anti-Muslim comments allegedly made by current and retired officers made on a private social media group came to light last summer when purported screenshots of the posts were shared online in an anonymous article posted on the website Medium by a person claiming to be “the partner of an active law enforcement officer in a San Francisco Bay Area police department.”
Four San Jose Police Department officers were placed on administrative leave in June, pending an investigation into the comments.
CNN has not been able to view the posts in question and has not identified any current or former officer involved.
After the posts surfaced, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office reviewed hundreds of cases in which the officers were witnesses.
“The Office identified 14 cases in which we believe the integrity of the case has been so compromised that the Office can no longer stand by the conviction. All of these cases are misdemeanors, with a majority of them involving driving issues or resisting arrest,” the office said on Thursday.
The DA sent out letters to the Public Defender’s Office and defense attorneys regarding the case dismissals and offering to hear more from their clients regarding the officers in question. The DA’s office said it will also notify defense attorneys if the officers have a role in pending or future cases.
The probe identified a total of five police officers who were active at the time if the postings. The status of the fifth officer is unclear.
CNN has reached out to the San Jose Police Department and the San Jose Police Officers’ Association.
Paul Kelly, the president of the officers association, previously condemned the group, asserting the union would not represent officers accused of making the Facebook posts and would immediately move to expel all members who participated in the group.
In the images posted with the Medium article, users made disparaging comments about Muslim women and one person changed their cover photo to a picture of a “Sharia Barbie” doll with a black eye wearing a hijab.
On a post about a Los Angeles Muslim woman’s hijab being pulled off by an officer, one person replied, “I say re-purpose the hijabs into nooses.”
The article also contained an image that it says is from a public post in which the user comments, “black lives really don’t matter.”
Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said Thursday: “Our community has the right to feel secure that the criminal cases we file in this county are untainted by prejudice. I have the obligation to ensure these cases are untainted by prejudice.”
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