LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office said Tuesday that it does not plan to file criminal charges against two people investigated in connection with the unlawful recording of a racist conversation that rocked City Hall and prompted the City Council president to resign to act after the audio was leaked. in 2022.
Local prosecutors declined to file criminal charges against the two people, a married couple, just months after the district attorney’s office announced it would not file charges against them.
The Associated Press is not naming the two people because they have not been charged. Both previously worked at the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and lived in a home that investigators traced to social media posts highlighting the controversial recording.
Prosecutors could not meet the burden of proof in a case, even though the district attorney’s office said in a charge review worksheet that “the evidence indicates that a crime was committed by one or both of these individuals.”
Under California law, all parties must consent to the recording of a private conversation or telephone conversation, or the person who made the recording could face criminal and civil penalties. The state’s wiretapping statutes are among the strictest in the country and allow the “injured party” — the person recorded without their consent — to file a lawsuit.
“After careful investigation, it was determined that there was insufficient evidence to meet the constitutional standard of proof,” city attorney spokesman Ivor Pine wrote in an email to the AP on Tuesday. “As a result, our office will not be filing criminal charges.”
The scandal was sparked by a leaked recording of crude, racist comments during a private 2021 meeting in which four Latino Democrats plotted to expand their political power at the expense of Black voters during a redrawing of council district boundaries. The recording was leaked the following year.
Council President Nury Martinez and powerful union leader Ron Hererra resign in disgrace. Councilman Gil Cedillo’s term ended weeks later, but Councilman Kevin de Leon resisted calls for his ouster – including from the White House – and ran for re-election. A second round awaits him in November.
The meeting took place at the headquarters of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, known locally as the “LA Fed.” The couple both worked at the LA Fed at the time.
The couple’s identities have been made public in lawsuits and media accounts. Bob Schwartz, an attorney for the husband, said his client is “relieved that no charges will be filed against him.”
Although his client was “adamant” from the start that he was not responsible for the recording, Schwartz said whoever did it “performed a great public service” for the city and acted in the tradition of whistleblowing.
An attorney for the man’s wife did not immediately respond to the AP’s request for comment late Tuesday.
No other potential suspects or persons of interest in the shooting have been named by investigators or prosecutors.
Pine, of the city attorney’s office, and a spokesman for the district attorney’s office did not immediately return requests for comment late Tuesday on whether anyone else was being investigated in connection with the case.
Researchers said the recording was posted anonymously on Reddit in 2022 and that a Twitter account amplified the post. Both accounts were linked to an email account traced to an IP address – a numeric identifier that identifies location on the Internet – and linked to the couple’s home.
Detectives recommended charging the couple with criminal wiretapping and illegal audio recording or eavesdropping in connection with the recording of that 2021 conversation, as well as another 2022 phone call between Herrera and a federation spokesperson, according to a review worksheet of the indictment released by police. office of the district attorney.
The district attorney declined to file misdemeanor charges earlier this year and referred the case to the city attorney’s office for possible violations.
Cedillo and de León have separate pending lawsuits against the couple.
The prosecutor’s charge evaluation worksheet notes that both people had “similar motives for committing the crime,” but it does not provide details about the alleged motives. Prosecutors wrote that the evidence shows that one or both of the people made the recording.
“However, it is unclear how the unlawful recordings occurred, on what device they occurred, or who uploaded the recordings online and created the anonymous accounts on Reddit, Twitter, and Gmail,” the spreadsheet said.