DA withheld shooting evidence from public

The things District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis didn’t want us to know about the disputed Midway District shooting of a mentally ill man by a police officer turned out to be rather interesting, not to mention significant.

San Diego Police Officer Neal Browder initially told investigators he did not see any weapon on the man he just shot that April night, Fridoon Nehad. At her news conference this past Tuesday, Dumanis made a big deal about Nehad holding a blue pen and flicking it around like a knife, something Browder apparently didn’t see or didn’t remember until five days later after he consulted with an attorney and reviewed the security video Dumanis just released publicly.

Dumanis only thought his second version was worthy of public disclosure and recently told the Union-Tribune editorial board she didn’t see a contradiction in that. In another situation, one might expect that her prosecutors would emphasize such conflicting stories from a perpetrator they were going after.

In making the case that this was a justified shooting, Dumanis even showed an unrelated YouTube video of someone manipulating a knife the way she said Nehad was doing with the pen, attempting to bolster the notion that Browder felt threatened. The use of that video struck many as weird — and even more so now.

Another startling fact we later learned was immediately after Browder told an investigator he didn’t see a weapon, his attorney, who was on the scene, intervened and prevented Browder from answering any more questions in that Midway District alley.

That could put a crimp in an investigation.

Dumanis insisted Tuesday she was releasing all the relevant information. Thanks to Nehad’s attorney Skip Miller’s release of other material from the investigation, the public can now make up its mind about what’s relevant.

“We’re not going to have a trial in the media,” said Dumanis said at the news conference, where she pretty much was doing just that.

Were this a courtroom trial, it would be interesting to hear what a judge might say upon finding out that the district attorney decided to withhold information about Browder’s first interview with investigators.

Consistent video policy: maybe yes, maybe no

The district attorney acknowledged there should be some consistency in how and when videos of crucial police action should be released. To determine that, she said she was teaming up with Sheriff Bill Gore, San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman and U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy “to update a protocol.”

Some concerns were raised immediately for a variety of reasons, one of them being that this isn’t a crowd that rushes to release things to the public. Another was this crew didn’t include representatives of the public — the real party of interest here — the media, civil rights organizations or even city and county attorneys.

According to NBC San Diego, Dumanis for now has backed off the idea that this exclusive group would be coming up with a policy on police-related video release.

More on Dumanis & Duffy

Dumanis confirmed at the news conference that the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office is reviewing the Browder shooting and, presumably, Dumanis’ conclusion that it was justified. That’s not unusual, though Duffy and Dumanis are believed to work well together.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Attorney’s Office also is continuing to investigate Mexican tycoon José Susumo Azano Matsura, who is facing political corruption chargers for, among other things, trying to illegally funnel big money into Dumanis’ 2012 mayoral effort. The district attorney is not accused of wrongdoing and has said she was unaware of his behind-the-scenes maneuvers to boost her political future.

Duffy has recused herself from that investigation.

Tweet of the Week

Goes to San Diego City Councilman Scott Sherman (@ShermanSD7) after reading a Sports Illustrated article about what could be the Chargers’ final game at Qualcomm Stadium last Sunday.

“Good story of yesterday’s game. I couldn’t watch. Me and other half of Council were in jail and denied TV privileges ”