Vallejo hires new law firm to consider investigating city attorney

VALLEJO – The Vallejo City Council voted Tuesday to hire a new law firm to consider whether to investigate the American Civil Liberties Union’s claims of misconduct within the city attorney’s office.

In an unusual move, the council held a public hearing about investigating its own personnel within City Attorney Veronica Nebb’s office, including Nebb herself. The council voted 5-2 – with Mayor Andrea Sorce and Councilmember Charles Palmares opposed – to hire the Shaw Law Group to review the ACLU’s allegations and determine whether the city should fully investigate Nebb and her staff.

The vote came several months after the ACLU published its letter accusing Nebb and her staff of various misconduct. It cited that the city attorney’s office destroyed records from multiple police shootings and obstructed civilian oversight of the Police Department. It also questioned whether the city attorney’s office participated in the Vallejo Police Department’s “suppression of extensive records of misconduct” and failure to investigate allegations of misconduct and retaliation. 

The city said on July 29 that it would contract an external law firm to review the allegations, but that law firm later said it could not do the job. City Manager Andrew Murray said during Tuesday’s meeting that the city received new proposals from Kronick Moskovitz Tiedemann & Girard and Shaw Law Group. Shaw Law Group estimates that it will be able to provide a recommendation within 30 days for about $25,000, while Kronick estimated being able to do the same work for between $60,000 and $150,000. 

ACLU senior attorney Allyssa Victory, who wrote the ACLU’s letter,  spoke Tuesday in public comment and said she approved of Shaw Law Group for handling the allegations. 

“The legal service provider that is chosen must be one that is truly independent, meaning the city attorney must not have any role in selecting them,” Victory added.

Sorce asked that an investigation also consider new allegations which have come up since the letter from the ACLU was submitted, saying she would vote against the item if the council did not approve of expanding the scope of the investigation. 

Sorce didn’t specify what allegations she was referring to, but in a deposition in a civil rights case in October, former Vallejo police Chief Shawny Williams said that the city attorney’s office had threatened and intimidated him, including in preparing for the deposition. The city attorney’s office blocked further questions about the allegation, citing attorney-client privilege.

Councilmember Tonia Lediju disagreed with Sorce, saying that it is not acceptable to expand the scope of the investigation beyond what is in the letter until there are clear findings and recommendations from a contracted external attorney. 

“This process has taken an inordinate amount of time,” Lediju said. “I would like to have the work done and find out what are the next steps." She criticized Sorce’s request as being “separate” and about investigating Williams, which she said needs to be done in a different capacity.

Numerous members of the public called for an investigation ahead of the meeting. Resident Dave Haldane said in a Facebook post on the Vallejo City Politics page, “We need an investigation, full stop. There is public evidence of the City Attorney's office destroying evidence. There is public evidence of the City Attorney's office breaking the law to protect the police. We need to tell the City Council to move directly to an investigation, not to add 4-12 months of waffling around while city staff gets their stories straight or looks for new jobs.”

Several Vallejo residents also spoke during Tuesday’s meeting to demand an investigation. 

Eli Smith, a member of the Vallejo Homeless Union, said, “There is absolutely no trust in this city. The citizens view this city as non functional. The people want Veronica Nebb investigated. It is that perception that is of importance when you make that decision.”

Residents Sam Houston and Diana Lang cited the Vallejo Sun’s reporting in an article published Tuesday that a city attorney confirmed to a Solano County Superior Court judge that Vallejo police kept a separate filing cabinet for internal affairs, preventing defense attorneys from accessing complaints of officer misconduct relevant to their defense. 

The court admission confirmed testimony from former Vallejo police Capt. John Whitney, who said in a deposition earlier this year that the department kept a separate filing cabinet of complaints against officers that were resolved without a formal investigation and illegally withheld from criminal defendants. 

Lang said the city must investigate concerns of malfeasance in the city attorney’s office and the police department to avoid further legal exposure. 

“How can you possibly protect this?” Lang asked. “I place the responsibility on previous city councils who did nothing. They didn’t ask questions. This also leads to the city manager’s office. If you’re going to do a proper investigation, these people need to be put on administrative leave, the entire city attorney’ s department. We need to take this dead serious."