OAKLAND (BCN) — A judge on Wednesday set a hearing for July 15 on a defense lawyer’s request for more information about an investigation into a veteran Oakland homicide detective who allegedly had his girlfriend help him write police reports on major cases.
Annie Beles, who represents murder defendant Mario Floyd, said she’s concerned that that she hasn’t yet received any information from the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office or Oakland police about the investigation into Sgt. Mike Gantt, which was announced by Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and City Administrator Sabrina Landreth last week.
Among the cases that Gantt investigated is the shooting death of 66-year-old anti-crime activist Judy Salamon in Oakland’s Maxwell Park neighborhood in broad daylight on July 24, 2013.
Floyd and co-defendant Stephon Lee, 25, who allegedly was the shooter in the incident, are charged with murder in that case and are scheduled to stand trial on July 25.
At a brief hearing Wednesday, Beles said she will file a motion to have Gantt’s personnel records be released so she can see if the case against Floyd and Lee has been compromised.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Paul Delucchi said he will have a hearing on Beles’ motion on July 15.
District Attorney spokeswoman Teresa Drenick declined to comment Wednesday on the case against Floyd and Lee or the investigation into Gantt, who has been placed on paid administrative leave.
Gantt’s lawyer, Michael Rains, said on Tuesday that he expects Gantt to be cleared of any wrongdoing.
Rains said Gantt had his girlfriend help him transcribe three recorded witness statements in the case against Floyd and Lee because he was under pressure to complete his report on the case quickly but he didn’t share any police reports or documents with her.
Rains said the Oakland Police Department didn’t have sufficient clerical support staff to help him transcribe the statements so he turned to his girlfriend because she was “very capable.”
The lawyer said Gantt’s girlfriend didn’t retain any copies of the interviews she transcribed.
Lee’s lawyer, Darryl Stallworth, has declined to comment on the investigation into Gantt because he also hasn’t received any official information about the probe.