In granting a defense motion to dismiss the case, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen found that former Special Prosecutor Lawrence Middleton had failed to present the grand jury with "exculpatory evidence'' in the case of Clifford Proctor.
"That's good enough to dismiss this matter,'' the judge said, adding that he also concluded after multiple viewings of video footage that it couldn't be shown that Proctor had "malice of any sort.''
In a statement released shortly after the judge's ruling, District Attorney Nathan Hochman said, "We are surprised and disappointed by the judge's decision, whose erroneous ruling has thwarted our efforts to obtain justice for Brendon Glenn, the victim of Officer Proctor's shooting.
"We will be appealing the court's ruling as we strongly believe there was more than sufficient evidence presented to the grand jury to show that Mr. Proctor was guilty of second-degree murder for maliciously killing an unarmed man,'' the district attorney added.
Outside the downtown Los Angeles courtroom following the dismissal of the case, Proctor's attorney, Tom Yu, said, "I'm grateful that the court did the right thing.''
Proctor, now 61, was indicted in September 2024 on a murder charge stemming from the May 5, 2015, shooting of Glenn, 29, following an apparent dispute that occurred between Glenn and a bar bouncer just steps away from Venice Beach boardwalk.
Proctor said at the time he thought Glenn was reaching for his partner's gun.
LAPD investigators concluded that Glenn was on his stomach when Proctor stepped back and fired twice, hitting Glenn in the back.
Glenn's death sparked a series of community protests and demands that the officer be charged with a crime.
In March 2018, then-District Attorney Jackie Lacey announced that her office would not pursue any charges against Proctor, citing "insufficient evidence,'' even though then-LAPD Chief Charlie Beck had recommended that the
officer be prosecuted.
The original investigation into the shooting during Lacey's administration included officer body-camera footage, surveillance videos, statements from 10 civilian eyewitnesses, DNA analysis and the opinion of a nationally recognized use-of-force expert,'' Lacey said at the time.
The use-of-force expert concluded that "Proctor's actions as seen on the surveillance video were consistent with his having observed a threat posed by Glenn,'' according to an 83-page memorandum released at the time by the District Attorney's Office on the investigation into the shooting.
Glenn -- who was "given multiple opportunities to leave the location'' and "chose to be confrontational and aggressive with civilians and
the officers'' -- had 18 arrests, 12 convictions and seven pending cases, along with multiple bench warrants for failure to appear in court, and toxicological testing determined that his blood contained both alcohol and marijuana at the time of the death, according to the memorandum.
"A thorough review of the law and the evidence in this matter leads to the conclusion that there is insufficient evidence to prove that Proctor's use of deadly force in the altercation with Glenn on May 5, 2015, was not justified,'' according to the memorandum. "The report noted that while Proctor's actions were found to violate LAPD policy, the standard of proof used in administrative proceedings is not the standard of proof used in criminal trials.''
Lacey noted that portions of the surveillance video played an important role in the decision not to file charges, and that snippets from the video were embedded into the 83-page decision to allow a window into the evidence that we considered in this case.''
She said her office also considered DNA evidence that showed Glenn could not be excluded as a possible contributor to a mixed DNA sample from the holster of Proctor's partner.
In April 2016, the Los Angeles Police Commission ruled the shooting was unjustified. Beck wrote in a report to the commission that there was no evidence to independently show there was a "perception that a deadly threat was present.'' Beck had recommended that Lacey file charges against Proctor, calling the shooting a criminal act.''
Shortly after George Gascon became district attorney in 2020, he hired Middleton as a special prosecutor to re-open investigations into four police shootings in which Lacey declined to file charges, including the Proctor case.
Proctor was arrested in connection with the case last October. He was subsequently freed on $100,000 bail.
Proctor's attorney said "any kind of suggestion that this was a murder indictment was nonsensical and not supported by the law.''
"They're supposed to seek justice,'' Yu said, adding that Middleton instead sought the indictment.
He maintained that the shooting was "completely justified.''
In a court filing, new Special Prosecutor Michael Gennaco and Deputy District Attorney Daniel Baker maintained that there was "evidence introduced that defendant killed Mr. Glenn out of anger, frustration and impatience, all unlawful reasons supporting a second-degree murder charge.''
"From the outset of the encounter with Mr. Glenn, defendant unnecessarily escalated the situation when he communicated a profanity-laced threat to shoot defendant's dog, already demonstrating anger even as the encounter was just beginning,'' Gennaco and Baker wrote in their opposition to the defense's motion that sought dismissal of the indictment. ... The special prosecutor fulfilled his obligation to present potential exculpatory evidence to the grand jury by presenting a lengthy memorandum prepared during the initial criminal review which concluded that the officer-involved shooting was justified, as well as additional arguably exculpatory information such as Mr. Glenn's criminal history and the complete DNA analysis."
In a declaration attached to the prosecution's court filing objecting to the dismissal of the indictment, Middleton objected to the defense's contention that the grand jury was not presented exculpatory evidence involving an 83-page memorandum prepared by the District Attorney's Office declining to prosecute Proctor in 2018.
"According to defendant Proctor, instead of the District Attorney's Office's 83-page declination memorandum, I presented a three-page declaration letter. Defendant Proctor is wrong.''
Middleton wrote in his declaration that a grand jury exhibit identified in the grand jury transcript's master index was identified as a "declaration letter from the District Attorney's Office,'' but that he is "absolutely certain'' that exhibit was the 83-page declination memorandum and a one-page cover letter. He also wrote that the transcript quotes the grand jury adviser describing the report as being three pages, while adding that "It is much more likely that she said 83-page report.''
The city of Los Angeles paid $4 million to settle wrongful-death lawsuits filed by Glenn's relatives.
In a statement, an attorney representing Glenn's family said, "The family of Brendon Glenn is both disappointed and frustrated that once again there will be a delay in the prosecution of Officer Proctor, who shot Brendon Glenn two times in the back when he posed no imminent threat of harm to him.''
... If prior prosecutors had done their job, we wouldn't be here today. But contrary to some thinking, our philosophy is that justice delayed is
still justice,'' attorney V. James DeSimone said in the statement.
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