PLACER COUNTY - Racist text messages sent by a former Placer County sheriff's deputy led to the dismissal of approximately five criminal cases, according to a Placer County District Attorney's Office response to a News10 public records request.
The text messages, sent by former deputy Scott Dow to unknown recipients, punched irreparable holes in prosecutions Dow had a role in.
The messages came to light earlier this month after Placer County man Howard Scott shared them with the media. Scott was facing criminal charges in 2014 when the D.A'.s office disclosed the texts to his attorney as required by law. Dow was an arresting officer in Scott's case, and the text messages showed a clear bias on Dow's part. As a result, charges were dropped against Scott.
"He's not just being a racist against me only," Scott said. "It's against everybody he stated something against in that letter -- whether it's one black or one Mexican, it's against all of us."
The text messages were disturbing. Dow sent one message on Martin Luther King Jr. Day that showed a picture of a dead African-American man with the message, "happy dead N***** day."
Other messages also used the word N***** or other racist language. Some of Dow's messages also used derogatory language toward homosexuals.
Proven instances of bias on behalf of a government witness must be disclosed to defense attorneys. That stems from Brady v. Maryland, a decades-old United States Supreme Court case where the court held that the withholding of possible exculpatory evidence denies a suspect due process of law. Racist text messages by an arresting officer would fall into that category, according to Sacramento criminal defense attorney Mark Reichel.
"In a case like that, an officer is going to testify and his word is what the jury is supposed to convict someone on, and that would send someone to prison," Reichel said. "So his word is very important; it's controlling in the case. So if you were to ask him questions about whether or not he has racist attitudes or is biased against this witness, that's what the confrontation clause, the right to cross examine someone so you can get to the absolute truth, is all about."
When Scott's attorney asked for any Brady information on deputy Dow, they received a summary of the racist text messages from the district attorney's office.
But a News10 public records request shows that Scott's case wasn't the only one affected by Dow's messages.
"Notwithstanding the above, there were approximately five cases that were dismissed or had counts in the criminal complaint dismissed based on the information that we obtained regarding former Deputy Scott Dow," Placer County Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey Wilson said in a written response.
The district attorney's office did not return requests for comment from News10 on Wednesday, or say what specific cases were dismissed as a result of the text messages. They still have not revealed the recipients of Dow's text messages.
The Placer County Sheriff's Office said it couldn't comment on that aspect of the investigation because it was being handled by the district attorney's Office. The sheriff's department also would not what disciplinary action was taken against Dow, although they confirm he no longer works for the department.
Given the Brady information on Dow, it was no surprise to Reichel that Dow was no longer with the sheriff's office.
"An officer that's involved in withholding evidence that's crucial like that, that violates Brady, won't have a long term in the system because eventually the system will clog, will break, and a lot of convictions will have to be vacated because of an officer behaving that way," Reichel said.
