Judge regulations Richmond officer violated Oakley man’s rights, federal ammo costs dropped

OAKLAND — Weeks after a federal decide ruled that a Richmond officer done an unlawful lookup of the defendant’s motor vehicle, federal prosecutors dismissed ammunition possession charges in opposition to an Oakley gentleman, court information demonstrate.

Derek Gould was billed previous year with becoming a felon in possession of ammunition in link with an August 2021 website traffic halt in which Officer Alayna Woody allegedly found a loaded, unregistered firearm inside of Gould’s motor vehicle. But last August, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White dominated police ” did not have probable bring about to purchase Mr. Gould out of the auto and carry out a motor vehicle search” and that Woody unlawfully prolonged the traffic cease.

A month right after Gould’s final decision, the Northern California U.S. Attorney’s business office dismissed the charges.

In court docket information, prosecutors claimed Gould was a suspect in a San Francisco shootout wherever many individuals fired guns, and said he ran from law enforcement during the 2021 website traffic stop.

Gould’s attorneys cited a 2018 analyze that concluded topics of Richmond police targeted traffic stops were Black 46 percent of the time, regardless of the truth that the city’s Black inhabitants is around 20 p.c, and suggested there was “racial bias” in each the conclusion to stop Gould and extend the prevent.

White dominated that there was possible result in to pull Gould about but that law enforcement used folly reasoning to justify their look for. Woody claimed to have smelled burnt marijuana, which courts have roundly dominated is not adequate to build possible bring about for a look for in California, the place adult marijuana use is authorized.