DA Zappala says office halted plea deals with Black attorney to avoid 'false claims of racism'

Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr., under fire this week for his May 18 email in which he prohibited his prosecutors from making plea offers to a Black attorney who complained of “systematic racism” in the DA’s office, says he did so “to ensure that this office makes consistent, evidence-based decisions, and avoids false claims of racism.”

It is the first public response from Zappala since the Tribune-Review reported the email on Wednesday. Since then, several public officials and criminal justice advocates have called for Zappala’s resignation — or at the very least an investigation into what occurred.

In his Thursday statement, Zappala said that the email he sent was in response to comments made by attorney Milton Raiford on May 13 during a court proceeding before Allegheny County Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony Mariani.

“As the District Attorney I am responsible for seeking justice for victims of crime and protecting the rights of the citizens. My office strives to carry out its mission with the integrity and respect that the residents of Allegheny County deserve,” he wrote.

Zappala said that, during the hearing before Mariani, Raiford accused this office of being “systematically racist,” making different plea offers based on skin color, and “doubling down” on plea agreements.

“He thereafter misrepresented to the court a plea offered by another assistant district attorney to one of his clients in another case,” Zappala said. “He then, falsely indicated that the plea offer the assistant district attorney made in the other case was 4-8 years for a marijuana charge, which taken alone would appear excessive.

“However, that case also involved weapons charges, which the attorney did not disclose to the court. Further, the attorney stated that ‘the system needs to be undermined,’ and that he is ‘not going for these crazy plea agreements.’

“Despite the judge’s indication that pleas in other cases did not seem relevant to the plea in a particular case, the attorney announced his intention to make these claims in every case in which he is counsel, whether in state or federal court,” Zappala said.

His May 18 email directed prosecutors not to make plea offers to Raiford and said that “any discussions with Mr. Raiford shall be memorialized,” which means written down and preserved. In his Thursday statement, Zappala said that he took the actions because he “took seriously that attorney’s stated desire not to accept plea offers.”

He included his May 18 email and the transcript of the court proceedings in his post.

After hearing Zappala’s response Thursday afternoon, Raiford said that the prosecutor’s representations from the transcript are inaccurate, and that he missed the spirit of what Raiford was trying to say.

“The point is, he knows he’s differentiated (among people of color,)” Raiford said. “He’s making excuses for a pattern and practice that’s been going on for a long time.

“He still hasn’t even acknowledged we need to change things based on the social justice movement going across our country.”

Raiford said Zappala has done nothing to address police conduct and how policing is handled differently across the county.

“Tell me how people in Sewickley are treated when they get pulled over and how people in Homewood are treated,” Raiford said. “It’s ridiculous.”

Regarding the action Zappala took against him and his client, Raiford said that it is a fundamental duty of a prosecutor to enter into good faith plea negotiations with a defense attorney.

“He said he’d punish my clients by no longer offering plea deals,” Raiford said. “Is he trying to say it’s my fault because I didn’t kiss his ring? I’m not afraid of him, and my ring kissing days are over.”

Raiford said the system is broken, and that Zappala should resign.

“It needs to be changed,” he said. “He needs to be changed.”