SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — A nine-member jury found Thursday former Oakland Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick was fired in retaliation for sounding the alarm on corruption within the civilian police commission.
The outcome of the trial hinged on the jury’s answer to two questions: whether the city of Oakland unlawfully terminated her for disclosing to the city conduct she had reasonable cause to believe is unlawful, and whether the city violated her free speech rights by terminating her in retaliation for making reports on a matter of public concern.
The jury answered “yes” to the first, and “no” to the second.
“We thought she was speaking in her capacity as chief,” said Madison Jewel, one of the jurors. She added, “We thought there was evidence that retaliation played some role in her discharge, which was why we found it was unlawful.”
The city of Oakland, the jury found, also did not prove by clear and convincing evidence that it would have fired her anyway for legitimate, independent reasons even if she never made the reports.
Kirkpatrick hugged her attorneys and left the courtroom beaming. She declined to speak on the record, referring questions to her attorneys, but did say that she was happy with the verdict.
“This was a brave woman who took a brave stance and paid a price for it,” her attorney James Slaughter told the jury in his summation.
Kirkpatrick was fired on Feb. 20, 2020 after the seven-member civilian commission voted to ask the mayor to join them in terminating her without cause.
Under voter-passed Measure LL, the commission had the authority to fire Kirkpatrick for cause, but needed the mayor to agree if they sought to fire her without cause.
“The chief has been vindicated. We said all along that she was retaliated against and the jury agreed,” said Slaughter, a partner with Keker Van Nest & Peters.
Read the full report from Courthouse News here.