Prosecutors will not file criminal charges against two people at the center of the Los Angeles racism scandal

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles city attorney’s office said Tuesday it does not plan to file criminal charges against two people who were investigated in connection with the illegal recording of a racist conversation that rocked City Hall and prompted the resignation of the president of the city council after the leak of the audio. in 2022.

The local prosecutor’s office declined to file misdemeanor charges against the two people, a married couple, just months after the district attorney’s office announced it would not bring criminal charges against them.

The Associated Press is not naming the two people because they were not charged. Both previously worked at the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and lived in a home that investigators traced to social media posts that highlighted the controversial recording.

Prosecutors failed to meet the burden of proof in one case, although the district attorney’s office, in a charge evaluation worksheet, said that “the evidence indicates that a crime was committed by one or both persons”.

Under California law, all parties must consent to the recording of a private conversation or phone call, or the person who made the recording could face criminal and civil penalties. The state’s wiretapping statutes are among the strongest in the nation and allow the “injured party” — the person being taped without their permission — to sue.

“After careful review, it was determined that there was insufficient evidence to meet the constitutional standard of proof,” city attorney spokesman Ivor Pine wrote in an email Tuesday to the AP “Because of this, our office will not be filing criminal charges.”

The scandal was sparked by a leaked recording of crude racist comments during a private meeting in 2021 in which four Latino Democrats conspired to expand their political power at the expense of black voters during a council district redistricting. The recording was leaked the following year.

Council president Nury Martínez and powerful labor leader Ron Hererra resigned in disgrace. Councilman Gil Cedillo’s term ended weeks later, but Councilman Kevin de León resisted calls for his impeachment, including from the White House, and ran for re-election. He faces a runoff in November.

The meeting took place at the headquarters of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, known locally as “LA Fed.” At the time, the couple worked at the LA Fed.

The couple’s identities have been made public in court documents and media accounts. Bob Schwartz, an attorney for the husband, said his client is “relieved that no charges will be filed.”

Although his client has been “adamant” from the beginning that he was not responsible for the recording, Schwartz said whoever did it “did a great public service” for the city and acted following the tradition of denunciation.

An attorney for the man’s wife did not immediately respond to the AP’s request for comment Tuesday afternoon.

Investigators or prosecutors have not named any other potential suspects or people of interest in the recording.

Pine, in the city attorney’s office, and a spokesman for the district attorney did not immediately return requests for comment Tuesday afternoon to say whether anyone else had been investigated in connection with the case.

Investigators said the recording was posted anonymously to Reddit in 2022 and a Twitter account amplified the post. Both accounts were associated with an email account that was traced to an IP address — a numerical designation that identifies its location on the Internet — and linked to the couple’s home.

Detectives recommended charging the pair with felony wiretapping and illegal audio recording or wiretapping in connection with the 2021 recording of that conversation, as well as another 2022 phone call between Herrera and a spokesman of the federation, according to a charge evaluation worksheet released by the district attorney’s office.

The district attorney declined to file felony charges earlier this year and referred the case to the city attorney’s office for possible misdemeanors.

Cedillo and de León have different trials pending against the couple.

The district attorney’s charge evaluation worksheet notes that both individuals had “similar motives for committing the crime,” but does not elaborate on the alleged motives. Prosecutors wrote that the evidence indicates that either person, or both, made the recording.

“However, it is not clear how the illegal recordings were made, what device was doing it, or who uploaded the recordings online and created the anonymous accounts on Reddit, Twitter and Gmail,” the paper states .