Walkup Case Brings Police and District Attorney Misconduct to Light

On June 8, 2009, the Recorder, one of San Francisco's legal newspapers, featured this story about one of Walkup partner Matthew Davis' current cases.

The case involves a man who was accused of raping his mentally challenged neighbor. An eighteen-year San Jose Police veteran created a false lab report that he planned to use while interrogating our client. He put the false report into his file and testified that its contents were true at our client's preliminary hearing. The criminal case was dismissed after the lab indicated that the report was false in responding to a discovery request.

The Recorder quoted Matt's statement: "It's a case of tunnel vision...The law enforcement team, including the prosecutor and the cop, convinced themselves that [our client] was guilty and...cut constitutional corners to prove it."

The case comes on the heals of Walker v. Santa Clara, a recent $2.75 million settlement that Matt and Walkup partner Rich Schoenberger obtained on behalf of Ricky Walker a man who spent 12 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted in 1991 of being an accomplice to a gruesome murder. In Mr. Walker's case sheriff deputies neglected to turn over evidence that showed Mr. Walker's innocence.