Court Opinion

ID: 9940655
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-14 21:04:10.085952+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:45:19.699022
License: Public Domain

Filed 2/14/24
                        CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

                COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

                                   DIVISION ONE

                            STATE OF CALIFORNIA

 TOMMY BONDS III,                         D082187

         Petitioner,

         v.                               (Super. Ct. No. 37-2023-00007933-
                                          CU-WM-CTL & M280282)
 THE SUPERIOR COURT OF SAN
 DIEGO COUNTY,

         Respondent;

 THE PEOPLE,

         Real Party in Interest.

       PETITION for writ of mandate from an order of the Superior Court of
San Diego County, Howard H. Shore, Judge. Petition granted.
       Katherine Braner, Public Defender, and Katie Belisle, Deputy Public
Defender for Petitioner.
       Mara W. Elliott, City Attorney, Paige E. Folkman, Assistant City
Attorney, and Michael E. Cosgrove, Deputy City Attorney, for Real Party in
Interest.
       Summer Stephan, District Attorney, and Linh Lam, Deputy District
Attorney, as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Real Party in Interest.
      Concerned about extensive and compelling evidence that criminal
prosecutions and sentences in this state are not always race neutral, in 2020
the Legislature enacted the California Racial Justice Act of 2020 (Racial
Justice Act) (Stats. 2020, ch. 317 (Assem. Bill No. 2542)). This
groundbreaking legislation seeks to reduce or eliminate convictions and
sentences that differ based solely on race, ethnicity, or national origin.
It does so, in part, by creating a procedure that criminal defendants may use
to show that some participant in the process has exhibited bias.
Significantly, a defendant can seek relief regardless of whether the
discrimination was purposeful or unintentional; in other words, the alleged
bias can be implied rather than express. Following an evidentiary hearing,
the defendant bears the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence
that some participant—including a law enforcement officer—“exhibited bias
or animus towards the defendant because of the defendant’s race, ethnicity,
or national origin.” (Pen. Code, § 745, subds. (a)(1) and (c)(2).)
      In this case, defendant Tommy Bonds was the subject of a traffic stop
by Officer Ryan Cameron of the San Diego Police Department (SDPD).
The stop led to Bonds’s arrest on a misdemeanor concealed firearm violation.
From the outset, Bonds believed he had been stopped because he was Black.
During a later hearing to address Bonds’s Racial Justice Act claim, Cameron
testified that race played no role in his decision to stop Bonds’s vehicle
because he could not “see what race was in that vehicle.” Accepting
Cameron’s statement as credible, the court ruled it could not find that the
officer exhibited any bias because of Bonds’s race.
      The parties’ briefs discuss a host of complex and interesting questions
about how the Racial Justice Act will be applied to a variety of arguments
and fact patterns. But the scope of our decision is narrow. In denying

                                        2
Bonds’s motion, the trial court employed reasoning that ignores a central
premise of the Racial Justice Act—that bias can be unconscious and implied
as well as conscious and express. By relying on its conclusion that Officer
Cameron was not lying when he said he could not discern the race of the
occupants in Bonds’s vehicle, the court ignored the possibility that the
officer’s actions were a product of an implicit bias that associated things the
officer did know—the location of the stop and the clothing Bonds was
wearing—with race. Accordingly, we will issue a writ directing the court to
conduct a new hearing at which it considers whether Officer Cameron’s
actions in initiating and conducting the traffic stop exhibited implied bias on
the basis of race.

               FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A.   The Traffic Stop

      Officer Cameron was a member of SDPD’s Special Operations Unit,
formerly referred to as the gang suppression team. In January 2022, along
with his partner Officer Eysie, Cameron was part of a “saturation patrol”
conducting “proactive enforcement” or “[i]ntelligence led policing.” Traveling
west on El Cajon Boulevard, he noticed Bonds’s vehicle traveling east. After
the two cars passed each other, Cameron made a U-turn, got behind Bonds’s
vehicle and activated his overhead red and blue lights. Bonds pulled into a
gas station and stopped.
      The interaction between the two was recorded on Cameron’s body-worn

camera (BWC).1 After Bonds parked, Cameron approached his car and said,
“What’s goin’ on, bro’? How you doin’?” They exchanged some initial
pleasantries, each remarking they remembered that Cameron had stopped

1     Both the video and a transcript of the video are part of the record.
                                       3
Bonds on a prior occasion. Cameron asked whether “the last time I pulled
you over [was] for the license plate [being] covered?” Bonds acknowledged
that it was. He also told Cameron that the passenger in his car was his
“best friend’s little brother.”
      Almost immediately, Bonds inquired whether he had been stopped
because he was Black. The following conversation took place:

         “[Bonds:] [Y]ou turn around like you saw two guys, like,
         two black guys in the car obviously.

         [Cameron:] Well, part of it the hoodies up and stuff,
         just . . . .

         [Bonds:] I mean, it’s cold outside.

         [Cameron:] [T]he climate and everything that’s goin’ on in
         this city these days, so.

         [Bonds:] Nah, that makes sense. I wasn’t, I’m not
         try’na pl-, I’m not trippin’ at all, I’m just like, um, . . . .

         [Cameron:] Yeah, I know. I got you.

         [Bonds:] [I]t is cold outside, but.

         [Cameron:] I hear you.”

      Bonds then asked Cameron directly, “Do you all pull over white people
like that?” Cameron responded with what he later admitted was a lie.
He told Bonds, “No I, matter of fact, I get pulled over out in . . . [¶] . . . East

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County,” which he said was because of his extensive tattoos.2 “They stop me

all the time . . . [¶] . . . ’cause I’m wearin’ a snap hat backwards.”3
      At that point, Cameron asked Bonds if there were “guns or anything
like that in the car?” Bonds admitted there was a legally registered unloaded
firearm in the back of the vehicle. He was handcuffed, arrested, and
ultimately charged with a misdemeanor violation of Penal Code section

25400, subd. (a)(1).4

B.   The Racial Justice Act Motion

      Bonds filed a motion for relief under the Racial Justice Act, specifically
section 745. The motion relied on independent studies and statistical
evidence purporting to show significant racial disparities in local policing,
particularly with regard to the nature and frequency of traffic stops. The
court indicated it was “not really considering the studies or conclusions of the
experts” and “prefer[red] to rely on the specific facts of the case.” Finding
that Bonds had made a prima facie showing of racial discrimination under
subdivision (c) of section 745 by offering facts it was required to assume were
true (see Finley v. Superior Court (2023) 95 Cal.App.5th 12, 23 (Finley)), the
court set the matter for an evidentiary hearing. But the judge cautioned the

2      Cameron, who is White, later testified, “I’ve never been stopped in East
County. I’ve never been stopped in the county of San Diego.” He attempted
to explain his admitted dishonesty: “It’s a form of de[-]escalation that I
use. . . . I’ve developed it over my career as a way to de[-]escalate away from
that situation because race has no relevance, has no bearing on a traffic
stop.”
3     We assume Cameron was referring to a “snapback” hat with an
adjustable closure.
4     All statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise
indicated.

                                         5
parties that setting the hearing “is not an indication that I believe there’s
been a violation by a preponderance of the evidence.”
      At the hearing, Bonds offered testimony from three experts. Dr.
Joshua Chanin, a quantitative statistical researcher and associate professor
of public affairs at San Diego State University, discussed four independent
research studies about racial bias in the SDPD as well as his own research
on the topic. Beth Mohr, a retired SDPD officer and police policy expert,
reviewed the BWC footage depicting the traffic stop and testified to her
conclusion that Officer Cameron’s conduct during the traffic stop was

consistent with racial bias.5
      Finally, Dr. Karen Glover, a sociologist specializing in race studies
related to law enforcement and professor at California State University,
San Marcos, also reviewed the BWC video. She testified about the difference
between explicit and implicit bias, explaining why Officer Cameron’s
statements and conduct during the traffic stop were consistent with racial
profiling. In particular, she commented on how Cameron responded to
Bonds’s statement—“you turn around like you saw . . . two black guys in the
car obviously”—by suggesting that race wasn’t the motivation for the stop.
Rather, it was “the hoodies up and stuff.” In Glover’s opinion, Cameron’s
response was an example of racial profiling and the use of “coded language”:
“The officer is not having to map out or describe what a hoodie means.
There’s an assumption that the hoodie means something about criminality
when it’s connected to . . . people of color.”

5     Perhaps reflecting its misunderstanding that intent was a necessary
element, the court previously ruled it would not permit a witness to testify as
to someone else’s state of mind, but would only allow opinion testimony that
certain conduct was “consistent with” racial bias.
                                          6
      In addition to the three experts, Bonds also called Officer Cameron to
testify. Cameron claimed the traffic stop could not have been the product of
racial bias “because I cannot see what race was in that vehicle.” He recalled
that the basis for the traffic stop was a rear license plate cover violation.
But he remembered, apparently incorrectly, that the prior stop he and Bonds

discussed was for a tinted windows violation.6 Cameron never explained how
he noticed a rear license plate violation as he approached Bonds’s car from
the front or what caused him to make a U-turn and activate his overhead
lights.
      The trial court denied Bonds’s motion in a six-page statement of
decision, which perceived there was a question whether section 745 was
intended to apply to a law enforcement officer’s conduct “before prosecutorial

involvement” but was willing to assume that it did.7 The court admitted into
evidence “all of [Bonds’s] proffered studies and articles without an extensive
foundational hearing for each,” but indicated “it would simply weigh the
evidence and give each study whatever weight it deserved.” It went on to
conclude, however, that aggregate statistics about a police department were
entitled to little weight because “there is no way for a court to draw . . .

6     Cameron testified, “We discussed it, ’cause he mentioned the last
interaction we had, and that was for tinted windows, I believe.” In contrast,
the transcript of the BWC video reflects that Cameron asked Bonds, “I forget,
was the last time I pulled you over for the license plate [being] covered?” and
Bonds answered, “Um, yes.”
7       Since the trial court decision in this case, it now seems clear that a
motion under the Racial Justice Act is properly brought to address alleged
racial bias during a traffic stop. (See Finley, supra, 95 Cal.App.5th 12; see
also Couzens, California Racial Justice Act of 2020 (Nov. 2023) at p. 8
[“The prohibition [in section 745, subdivision (a)(1)] is sufficiently broad to
. . . include bias or animus exhibited during a police investigation.”].)
                                         7
conclusions [about an officer’s state of mind] from general statistics without
speculating whether a particular officer’s conduct on a specific occasion falls
within those statistics and any conclusions based on such statistics.”
      In the end, the issue for the trial court was a simple one. Was Officer
Cameron telling the truth when he said he did not know and could not see
that the occupants of Bonds’s vehicle were Black? Noting that Cameron’s
interaction with Bonds “was courteous and respectful,” the court found
“nothing in the record that would support a conclusion that Officer Cameron
committed perjury when he testified at the hearing.” In the court’s view, this
finding mandated that the motion be denied. The court’s decision never
mentions implied or implicit bias.
      Bonds’s writ petition to the superior court’s appellate division was
denied in a three-sentence order that found the trial court’s determination
“supported by substantial evidence.” Bonds then filed a writ petition in this
court, seeking review of the appellate division decision. (Code Civ. Proc.,
§ 904.3.) We issued an order to show cause.

                                   DISCUSSION
                                          A

      The Racial Justice Act is new legislation, having become effective only
three years ago. Appellate decisions interpreting it are, as yet, few. It is also
novel in concept and expansive in scope. The express purpose of the Racial
Justice Act is “to eliminate racial bias from California’s criminal justice
system because racism in any form or amount, at any stage of a criminal
trial, is intolerable [and] inimical to a fair criminal justice system . . . .”
(Stats. 2020, ch. 317, § 2, subd. (i) [uncodified].)

                                          8
      The trial court in this case expressed concern that in enacting the
Racial Justice Act, “the Legislature . . . has not thought through some of
these issues sufficiently to provide proper guidance to attorneys and judges.”
That may or may not be true. Surely the implementation of legislative policy
often involves a back-and-forth process of enactment, interpretation, and
amendment to clarify and fine-tune a statutory scheme.
      Whatever may be uncertain about the Racial Justice Act, there are a
few things that are abundantly clear. Perhaps most obvious is that the
Racial Justice Act was enacted to address much more than purposeful
discrimination based on race. Indeed, the primary motivation for the
legislation was the failure of the judicial system to afford meaningful relief to
victims of unintentional but implicit bias. In an uncodified section of
Assembly Bill No. 2542, the Legislature explained, “Implicit bias, although
often unintentional and unconscious, may inject racism and unfairness into
proceedings similar to intentional bias. The intent of the Legislature is not to
punish this type of bias, but rather to remedy the harm to the defendant’s
case and to the integrity of the judicial system.” (Stats. 2020, ch. 317, § 2,
subd. (i) [uncodified], italics added.)
      According to the author of the bill, the Racial Justice Act “is a
countermeasure to a widely condemned 1987 legal precedent established in
the [United States Supreme Court] case of McCleskey v. Kemp[, which]
established an unreasonably high standard for victims of racism in the
criminal legal system that is almost impossible to meet without direct proof
that the racially discriminatory behavior was conscious, deliberate and
targeted.” (Sen. Com. on Public Safety, Analysis of Assem. Bill No. 2542
(2019–2020 Reg. Sess.) as amended Aug. 1, 2020, p. 7, italics added.) This
overriding purpose is emphasized in subdivision (c)(2) of section 745, which

                                          9
defines the defendant’s burden of proof on a motion to demonstrate a
violation of the Racial Justice Act. It expressly provides that “[t]he defendant
does not need to prove intentional discrimination.” (Ibid., italics added.)
      The trial court seems to have misunderstood this crucial element of the
statute. To be sure, section 745 can be used to address a claim of purposeful
discrimination. But plainly that is not a statutory requirement, nor is it even
the primary object of the statute. By focusing on whether Officer Cameron
credibly testified that he did not know the occupants of Bonds’s car were
Black when he initiated the traffic stop—or in its words, whether Cameron
“committed perjury”—the court applied the wrong legal standard to the

motion.8 Cameron’s claim of ignorance, if believed, might indicate that he
did not intend to discriminate on the basis of race. But implicit bias is, by
definition, unintentional and unconscious. The court’s findings on the record,
required by the statute (§ 745, subd. (c)(3)), fail to address the abundant
evidence suggesting that the traffic stop may have been the product of
unintended racial bias.
      The People’s brief concedes the foundational legal point when it agrees,
“[A]n officer could exhibit implicit or explicit bias towards a defendant and a
trial court could find a violation of Penal Code section 745.” But they suggest
that law enforcement officers cannot exhibit any kind of bias “because of” a
defendant’s race (§ 745, subd. (a)(1)) unless they are aware of that race.
This argument misapprehends the scope of implicit bias.
      As the testimony in this case illustrates, implicit bias can appear at
multiple levels. Certainly, an officer (or other participant in the criminal

8     Of course, we defer to findings of fact by the trial court that are
supported by substantial evidence, but review de novo the court’s legal
rulings and its interpretation of the statute. (See generally Young v.
Superior Court (2022) 79 Cal.App.5th 138, 156.)
                                       10
justice process), observing that a defendant is Black, could “unintentionally”

treat them differently.9 But implicit bias can manifest itself in other ways
based on unstated or even unconscious assumptions. Dr. Glover explained
that terms like “ ‘proactive enforcement’ ” typically refer to identifying a
“high crime” area in the community and imply “making a stop on a relatively
low level violation, with the . . . anticipation that there might be a larger
criminality involved.” If that portion of the community is disproportionately
populated by persons of a particular race, a detention could be the product of
implicit bias even if the officer initiating the stop did not “know” the race of
person being detained.
      Even on the individual level, conclusive knowledge about the race of
the subject is not necessary to show implicit bias. Here, although he claimed
he could not tell that Bonds and his companion were Black, Officer Cameron
was able to discern that each was wearing a “hoodie” with the hood pulled up.
Cameron found this suspicious and it prompted his decision to make a U-

turn, follow Bonds’s vehicle, and ultimately conduct a traffic stop.10
As Dr. Glover explained, “A hoodie is a piece of clothing” that has been

9      Bonds argues that, even accepting Officer Cameron’s testimony he
could not discern the race of the occupants of the vehicle, there was
substantial evidence supported by expert testimony that Cameron exhibited
racial bias throughout his interaction with Bonds after he realized Bonds was
Black. The People respond that relief under the Racial Justice Act is limited
to instances of racial bias that results in a conviction or longer sentence.
We find it unnecessary to reach this issue.
10    Police policy expert Mohr also testified about the hoodie as the basis for
the traffic stop: “Well, wearing a hoodie in a car isn’t illegal. So for that to be
apart [sic] of the reason for the stop, again, unless they were seeking a
particular individual from, say, a bank robbery from a few minutes prior who
was wearing that color hoodie or something, . . . just wearing a hoodie isn’t a
valid reason to conduct a traffic stop.”
                                        11
“criminalized” because it “invoke[s] some thoughts of a threat . . . depending
on who’s wearing it.” “The officer is not having to map out or describe what a
hoodie means. There’s an assumption that the hoodie means something
about criminality when it’s connected to . . . people of color.” Thus, it was not
necessary that Cameron had verified the occupants were Black before he
stopped their vehicle, because he may well have subconsciously assumed they
were based on their clothing, their presence in the neighborhood, or other

subtle factors.11
      In short, the court applied an incorrect legal standard in concluding
that Officer Cameron could not exhibit racial bias unless he “knew” the race
of the vehicle’s occupants before initiating the traffic stop.

                                        B

      We briefly comment on an additional issue that will likely arise at the
new hearing on Bonds’s motion. The People argue the trial court properly
disregarded the statistical studies offered by Bonds. They assert that
“[g]eneral statistics about the prosecuting agency are appropriate when the
alleged violation concerns the charged crime or penalty sought. The same is
not true when looking at an individual police officer, or an individual
attorney or individual judge or individual expert.” They claim that Bonds
“should have obtained statistics concerning the stops this officer made.”
An amicus curiae brief submitted by the San Diego County District Attorney
takes the argument a step further, suggesting that statistical evidence

11     Similarly, an officer conducting a traffic stop on a “lowrider” vehicle
might not need to see the occupants to assume they were Latino. (See
Lowriders, Cars With Identities, National Museum of African American
History and Culture (2024) <https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/lowriders>
[as of Feb. 14, 2024], archived at <https://perma.cc/93HB-R9TV>.)
                                        12
regarding SDPD practices is inadmissible character evidence under Evidence
Code section 1101, subdivision (a).
      The problem with both variations of the argument is that in section
745, subdivision (c)(1), the Legislature has specifically provided that “reliable,
statistical evidence, and aggregated data are admissible for the limited
purpose of determining whether a violation of subdivision (a) has occurred.”
The provision makes no distinction between the various subparts of
subdivision (a), so there is no basis to say that such evidence is only
admissible to prove certain types of violations but not others. This is not to
say that in this case, aggregate data about SDPD practices in making traffic
stops would be sufficient by itself to show that Officer Cameron’s stop of
Bonds was the product of racial bias. But by the express terms of the statute,
this is admissible evidence the trial court is entitled to consider in
determining whether a violation of the Racial Justice Act has occurred.

                                 DISPOSITION

      A peremptory writ of mandate shall issue directing the superior court
to vacate its order denying Bonds’s motion for relief under the Racial Justice
Act and to conduct a new hearing consistent with the views expressed in this
opinion.

                                                                          DATO, J.
WE CONCUR:

IRION, Acting P. J.

KELETY, J.

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