San Jose to pay record $12 million to settle wrongful conviction suit from exonerated man
SAN JOSE — The city of San Jose has agreed to pay a $12 million settlement to a man who was incarcerated 17 years for a shooting he didn’t commit, and who later claimed in a lawsuit that police investigators bullied witnesses and ignored evidence that should have cleared him.
Lionel Rubalcava, 45, was exonerated and freed from prison in 2019 after the Northern California Innocence Project, based at the Santa Clara University School of Law, re-examined his conviction and compelled the Santa Clara County district attorney and public defender offices to revisit the case.
The $12 million figure stands to be the largest civil payout for a police misconduct claim in the city’s history. Under the terms of the settlement, negotiated by the city attorney’s office and expected to get city council approval Tuesday, the city and police department admit no fault.
The settlement resolves a federal wrongful conviction lawsuit that Rubalcava filed in 2020 that contended three police officers — Topui Fonua, Joe Perez and Steven Spillman — ignored ample evidence of his innocence when they investigated a drive-by shooting on Mastic Avenue in 2002 that paralyzed a man.
“We are supposed to to be able to trust police officers for our protection and safety. In my case, the San Jose Police Department singled me out and framed me for a crime I didn’t commit,” Rubalcava said in a statement. “My family and I are grateful we can now put this nightmare behind us.”
Exonerating evidence for Rubalcava included cell phone tracking data indicating that he was in Hollister at the time of the shooting, and equivocating witness accounts. Three primary witnesses, including the victim himself, asserted at trial and years later in civil depositions that they were not certain Rubalcava was the shooter, and were pushed into making a positive identification.
Still, police pressed ahead with the investigation that led to Rubalcava being prosecuted and imprisoned in 2003. Records show Perez and Spillman left the police department in 2018 and 2015, respectively. Fonua is an active San Jose police officer.
“Neither Lionel nor the victims were served by the corrupt police work that led to an innocent man being prosecuted and the true shooter going free,” said Nick Brustin, a partner in the New York-based law firm Neufeld Scheck Brustin Hoffmann and Freudenberger that represented Rubalcava.
A city attorney memo recommending the settlement noted that it will “avoid the risks inherent in litigation,” and that each side will cover their own legal fees.
The path to a settlement was paved by a ruling in March from federal Judge Beth Labson Freeman that rejected the city’s efforts to get the lawsuit dismissed and instead scheduled a trial to begin in August.
In her written opinion, Labson Freeman stated that a jury should decide whether the three officers fabricated their police reports and that jurors could “reasonably could infer that Perez, Fonua, and Spillman falsified the police reports for the purpose of depriving Rubalcava of constitutional rights.”
The judge also ruled that a conspiracy claim could be heard by jurors, on the premise that the officers “worked closely and in tandem to fabricate witness identifications,” meaning “a jury reasonably could infer that those officers conspired to deprive (Rubalcava) of the constitutional due process right” against baseless prosecution.
The law firm representing Rubalcava also famously secured a $13.1 million settlement in 2019 from the city of San Francisco for Jamal Trulove. A federal civil jury determined that Trulove was framed by SFPD in the murder of his friend; he served seven years in prison before his conviction was overturned.
This is a developing report. Check back later for updates.