San José to Pay $12 Million in Largest Settlement for Police Misconduct Case

San José has agreed to pay $12 million to Lionel Rubalcava, a man who spent 17 years in prison for a drive-by shooting he did not commit. This settlement marks the largest ever paid by the city in a police misconduct case. The City Council approved the settlement after a federal judge dismissed the city’s arguments to dismiss Rubalcava’s federal lawsuit.

Rubalcava was convicted in 2002 for a gang shooting based on the identification of three witnesses. However, he was exonerated in May 2019 after the witnesses recanted their testimonies and cellphone tracking evidence indicated he was elsewhere during the shooting. In his lawsuit, Rubalcava’s attorneys accused police officers Topui Fonua, Joe Perez, and Steven Spillman of deliberately ignoring exonerating evidence and misrepresenting witness statements to secure the conviction.

Judge Beth Labson Freeman, in her ruling against the city’s request to dismiss the case, stated that a jury could infer that the three officers “falsified the police reports for the purpose of depriving [Lionel] Rubalcava of constitutional rights.” The trial was scheduled for August.

Amelia Green, one of Rubalcava’s attorneys, commended the city’s decision, highlighting the evidence of serious police misconduct that would have been presented at trial. She emphasized that Rubalcava should never have been prosecuted, and the city should have taken responsibility for his wrongful conviction earlier.

Rubalcava filed a civil lawsuit against the city, alleging violations of his civil and due-process rights by detectives who ignored evidence pointing to his innocence. He expressed his disappointment in the San José Police Department, stating that he was singled out and framed for a crime he did not commit.

The shooting in question occurred on April 5, 2002, leaving 19-year-old Raymond Rodriguez partially paralyzed. Police and prosecutors argued during the trial that the shooting resulted from a gang rivalry. However, one witness recanted their testimony, and Rubalcava’s attorneys argued that the suggested motive did not align with the fact that Rubalcava and Rodriguez belonged to separate Norteño street gangs and were not rivals. Rodriguez and his mother also stated that they did not believe Rubalcava was the shooter and that Rodriguez had been targeted by members of a rival Sureño gang.

Rubalcava’s case gained traction when the Northern Innocence Project at Santa Clara University School of Law took it up. Following their involvement, the Santa Clara district attorney’s office ordered a reexamination of the case by its conviction integrity unit, leading to the recantation of testimonies by the remaining witnesses. In 2019, the office requested the superior court to vacate Rubalcava’s conviction.

Represented by attorneys from Neufeld Scheck Brustin Hoffmann & Freudenberger, Rubalcava’s case sheds light on the corrupt police work that resulted in an innocent man being prosecuted while the true shooter remained free. Attorney Nick Brustin emphasized how racism infects the criminal legal system, where young men of color are often targeted for prosecution.