Mercury News: Exclusive: Santa Clara DA to dismiss cases tied to ex-San Jose cop in racist text scandal

SAN JOSE — The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office plans to dismiss five criminal cases after determining that a former San Jose cop embroiled in a racist texting scandal had tainted the credibility of the police investigations.

In letters sent this week to the county Public Defender’s Office and several defense attorneys, the agency wrote that the dismissals stem from a review of 54 arrests, charges and convictions involving Mark McNamara, who resigned in November after an internal San Jose Police Department investigation revealed that he was behind “a series of virulently racist text messages.”

“We think this is extraordinarily important,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in an interview Tuesday. “Fairness is at the heart of the criminal justice system. Racism affects the community’s confidence that every arrest and conviction was fair.”