A Sacramento Lawsuit and the Fight for Police Accountability

In the latest episode of Everyday Injustice, host David Greenwald sits down with civil rights attorney Marissa Hatton of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area and community activist Meg White to examine a pivotal case against the Sacramento Police Department. The lawsuit, stemming from police violence during the George Floyd protests in 2020, sheds light on the city’s response to racial justice demonstrations and the long road toward accountability and reform. Despite a monetary settlement, plaintiffs and advocates remain deeply frustrated by the court’s refusal to impose lasting injunctive relief.

Hatton recounts the harrowing details behind the legal battle, which challenged the Sacramento Police Department not only for excessive force—including the widespread use of chemical agents and rubber bullets—but also for viewpoint discrimination under the First Amendment. While the court ruled that the department had violated the Fourth Amendment by using unlawful force and failing to train or discipline its officers, it stopped short of mandating policy changes to prevent future misconduct. For many, including the plaintiffs, that decision leaves them vulnerable to repeat abuse.

Meg White, one of six plaintiffs, offers an unflinching firsthand account of what it felt like to be maced, beaten, and traumatized during what was supposed to be a peaceful protest. White’s experience—shared by hundreds of demonstrators—illustrates a pattern of police escalation and indiscriminate retaliation. The contrast between the violent crackdown on racial justice protesters and the relative restraint shown to Stop the Steal demonstrators is a key element of the case, revealing a disturbing double standard in how law enforcement responds to dissenting voices.

Though the court acknowledged a pattern and practice of unconstitutional conduct, the ruling left systemic change off the table—deepening public distrust. As the conversation turns toward ongoing protests and growing authoritarianism across the country, this episode is both a sobering postmortem of one city’s failures and a warning about what happens when legal victories don’t translate into institutional reform. Hatton and White make one thing painfully clear: without accountability and structural change, the injustice will repeat itself.


Everyday Injustice Podcast Episode 293: Beaten for Protesting

David Thorne is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for allegedly hiring an acquaintance to kill the mother of his son, however, he never hired anyone nor did the acquaintance do the crime.  

Sometime between the evening hours on March 31, 1999 and 12:00 p.m. on April 1, 1999, Yvonne Layne, a mother of 5, was murdered in her home with one solid and steady slit to her throat.  

David Thorne was convicted of complicity to aggravated murder/murder for hire on January 25, 2000 by a 12 person jury.  

The police investigating the crime had tunnel vision throughout their investigation, narrowing in on David from the beginning.

The investigators were unable to get David to confess, so instead they went after his acquaintance, Joseph Wilkes, who was barely 18 years of age and a high school dropout.  

After a lengthy interrogation, during which they told Joseph that David was “next door ratting him out”, he confessed, utilizing the story that the police had fed to him to what the police were telling him happened.  

Joe took a plea deal and David went to trial.  Despite the lack of physical evidence of either Joe or David being at the scene and a poor police investigation, with very weak circumstantial evidence, an innocent man was convicted.

Everyday Justice Podcast Episode 19: David Thorne and a Murder For Hire That Wasn't

MIriam Krinsky is Executive Director of the group Fair and Just Prosecution, which is helping transform the criminal justice system by highlighting the roles and responsibilities of prosecutors.

A former prosecutor, we talk about how things have changed over the course of her career, the current progressive prosecution movement and what that means for this country.

Everyday Injustice Podcast Episode 36 - Miriam Krinsky and the Progressive Prosecutor Movement

Jose Garza is another former public defender and federal public defender, currently  the co-executive director of the Austin-based nonprofit Workers Defense Project, and running for prosecutor in Travis County, Texas home of Austin.

Right before we recorded the podcast, he got a big endorsement from Elizabeth Warren.

“With José as district attorney, Travis County will gain another champion in the fight to transform our criminal justice system,” Warren said in a statement. “As an experienced public servant with a proven track record of standing up for working families, I know that José will be the fighter that Travis County communities deserve.”

Listen as we talk about criminal justice reform and the need for progressive prosecutors in Austin, Texas.

Everyday Injustice Podcast Episode 37 - Jose Garza Runs For DA in Travis County, Texas

Julie Gunnigle is the latest in our progressive prosecutor series on Everyday Injustice.

She is running as a reformer in a district long held by Bill Montgomery.  In addition, Maricopa County is well known as the home of notorious Sheriff Joe Arpaio.  

Among the issues Ms. Gunnigle spoke to on Everyday Injustice, liberalization of marijuana policies.  Arizona is the only state for whom even a trace amount of marijuana possession is charged as a misdemeanor and Bill Montgomery was notorious for filing charges in marijuana cases.

Everyday Injustice Podcast Episode 40 - Julie Gunnigle Takes on Maricopa Prosecutor

In 2019, Tiffany Caban, a career public defender ran for DA in QUeens, NY and came within an eyelash of beating the establishment backed candidate.

Ms. Caban talks about what she is doing today and the ramifications of her race as well as the future of the progressive prosecution movement.

Everday Injustice Podcast Episode 50 - Tiffany Caban former Queens DA Candidate

Buta Biberai was elected last year as Commonwealth Attorney in Loudon County Virginia.  She ran as the progressive reformer and became the first new top prosecutor in 16 years. 

Criminal justice reform looks a bit different in suburban Virginia, what has traditionally been more red but has over time shifted.

We talk about the issues and challenges of reform in Virginia and it how it differs from other places that we have spoken about.

Everyday Injustice Podcast Episode 52 - Virginia Prosecutor Buta Biberaj

Davis Vanguard Podcast will be covering criminal justice reform, mass incarceration, wrongful convictions, and more.

Everyday Injustice Podcast Episode 293: Beaten for Protesting

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