photo credit: Sonoma County Sheriff
Screenshot of the Sonoma County Sheriff critical incident video of the officer involved 
shooting death of David Pelaez-Chavez on July 29, 2022.

Disagreement over civilian oversight of the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office has not gone away since the county's Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach was established in 2015.

The current issues surfaced during IOLERO's investigation of the July 2022 officer involved fatal shooting of farmworker David Pelaez-Chavez.

Jonathan Murphy, an attorney for deputies involved in the case, and the Sonoma County Deputy Sheriff's Association, said IOLERO went beyond its authority during the investigation.

Most concerningly, Murphy said when it came to an assertion by IOLERO investigator Emma Dill during a interview with one of the deputies.

In that interview Dill said, "IOLERO does believe that Lybarger protects all of your statements in this interview from criminal prosecution."

"We don't believe that simply exercising the Fifth Amendment is enough to comply with the subpoena," Dill said. "We believe...that there may be disciplinary or legal consequences for refusing to answer our questions."

Lybarger refers to Lybarger v City of Los Angeles. That's a legal case that established public employees could discuss their conduct during administrative review without fear of criminal repercussions.

The two officers interviewed as part of IOLERO's investigation into the Pelaez-Chavez killing exercised their fifth amendment rights and refused to answer questions, and Murphy argued IOLERO knowingly overstepped its authority.

Murphy pointed to a July 2024 email from IOLERO Director John Alden to Sonoma County Sheriff Eddie Engram, in which Alden said, "...we ask you...to order Deputy Powers and Sergeant Berg to appear as subpoenaed and answer IOLERO’s questions. Once you do so, the protections of Lybarger and Garrity would clearly apply, assuming these members still desire to assert their Fifth Amendment rights."

In that email Alden references Measure P. That's the 2020 voter-approved ballot measure that strengthened IOLERO's authority.

Alden called for, "the sheriff and sheriff’s office to provide unfettered access to information and witnesses under the control of the sheriff’s office." 

Alden previously told KRCB Mews that interviewing officers involved in active duty shootings is common practice at other law enforcement agencies around the state.

Murphy said the Deputy Sheriff's Association and IOLERO would need to once again return to labor negotiations in order to reach a new agreement on IOLERO investigative interviews like the one at issue.