Black Lives Matter activist reaches plea deal with San Joaquin County DA’s office

The attorney for a Black Lives Matter activist announced a plea deal Monday, hours ahead of a hearing on her motion to force the entire San Joaquin County district attorney's office to recuse itself from the case.

Yolanda Huang, an attorney representing Lareesha Brown, filed a motion in August to exclude the office over evidence of a skit at a 2016 office Halloween party. In the widely reported incident, several deputy district attorneys dressed as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs while pretending to snort cocaine in front of a sign that read "Dwarf Lives Matter."

According to documents shared with the media by District Attorney Tori Verber-Salazar's office, she quickly denounced the incident. Salazar also said "disciplinary action" had been taken but has declined to give details, citing civil service rules.

Brown was one of six people facing misdemeanor charges related to incidents that occurred on March 7, 2017, inside a Stockton City Council meeting and at a nearby park.

According to a prepared statement, one of these defendants pleaded no contest to resisting arrest while three others are being sought on warrants. The office is trying to determine if the sixth defendant is dead.

Verber-Salazar's office released a statement after the hearing confirming Brown pleaded guilty "to one count of willfully resisting/obstructing/delaying a peace officer." The plea will be held in abeyance for six months with all charges dropped if she commits no new violations and meets other terms. The statement also denied there is any evidence of "systematic racism" in the DA's office.

Charges of assaulting an officer were dropped. In return, Brown will drop her recusal motion, according to a press release from Huang, an Oakland-based solo defense attorney. Brown will also perform 48 hours of community service and "engage in restorative justice with the DA and the Stockton Police Department."

"The police and the DA offered, and I've accepted the opportunity to meet and talk frankly about important issues in the community, including the inequities in our court and justice system which black people face," Brown said in the release.

A previous recusal motion filed by multiple defendants was rejected last year by San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Michael Mulvihill. Huang and Brown filed a motion to recuse Judge Bernard J. Garber from the case on Sept. 6. Garber had twice rejected discovery motions seeking more information about the skit.

That motion was rejected Sept. 24 by Marin County Superior Court Judge Verna A. Adams, who was assigned to handle it.

"I think that was a good resolution," Huang said when reached after the hearing.