Rape charges won’t be refiled against Contra Costa County prosecutor
A Contra Costa County sex crimes prosecutor accused of raping a colleague during their lunch hour will not be recharged with the crime, a spokeswoman for Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris said Tuesday.
A judge in October dismissed sexual assault charges against Contra Costa Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Gressett after determining that county and state prosecutors failed to inform a grand jury of potentially exculpatory evidence.
The spokeswoman declined to comment on the decision.
A junior prosecutor who worked with Gressett said he raped her in May 2008 in an assault that involved an ice pick, ice and handcuffs. Gressett said the sex was consensual.
The woman later collected a $450,000 settlement from the county after alleging she was denied a permanent job in retaliation for the rape charge. She now practices law in Florida.
The case revealed a raucous, sexually charged atmosphere in the D.A.’s sex crimes unit, where prosecutors boasted of belonging to an anal sex club. Prosecutors are now required to receive training in what constitutes sexual harassment and a hostile work environment.
Daniel Russo, Gressett’s attorney, said Gressett was unlikely to return to work in the prosecutors’ office and would sue the county for malicious prosecution and civil rights violations.
The county fired Gressett after a grand jury indicted him, but a labor arbitrator reinstated him with back wages. Russo said he did not expect Gressett to return to the D.A.’s office. “After what he went through, it would be difficult for him to prosecute anybody,” Russo said.
More to Read
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
