Method to remove San Mateo County sheriff OK’d

While the March vote gave the governing body the OK, and many are eagerly waiting for Corpus to be removed, county staff and legal consultant Alfonso Estrada have worked to make sure the way Corpus may be removed provides “fundamental fairness” with “several independent checks affording due process.” 

With the board’s approval at its meeting Tuesday, a notice of intent to remove the sheriff will be drafted and presented to the board for consideration and review at a future date. If approved by a four-fifths vote, the notice will be served on the sheriff, which will include the grounds and bases for removal. Corpus will then have five days to appear for a preremoval conference, which will occur before Chief Probation Office John Keene. 

“The sheriff will be permitted to present with her representatives and to offer any information in mitigation of the charges as outlined in the notice of intent and also the basis for removal,” Estrada said.

Keene will then recommend to the board, that will then again vote on whether to proceed. A supermajority approval is required for the final notice of removal to be issued. This is essentially a final decision for the board’s desire to have Corpus removed, but she can appeal, which would then trigger the remainder of the procedures for an under-oath evidentiary hearing. 

The hearing is a public hearing by default, but Corpus may request within five days of receiving her notice of intent for it to be closed. Corpus may do so in large part because of the confidentiality under which peace officer personnel records are kept, Estrada said.

“I want the public to understand that these removal procedures, if adopted, any testimony will be under oath, and if it’s not public, it’s not for the lack of will of this board,” Supervisor Noelia Corzo said. 

The most appropriate hearing officer was debated by supervisors at the meeting. Supervisor Jackie Speier shared her desire for a retired judge to be the neutral party, but the final decision will ultimately be decided upon following input by both the county and Corpus. 

Proposed hearing officers will be the “foremost experts in public safety officer discipline in the state of California,” Estrada said. 

A hearing would hopefully occur within 60 days after a hearing officer is selected, Estrada said. The sheriff and the county will get five days to present their case. The independent hearing officer will consider the evidence, and issue a fully written advisory opinion to the board for consideration. 

The board will then make the final decision, which will be binding. 

Attorneys representing Corpus spoke during public comment sharing their belief that the Board of Supervisors is a biased entity that should not be able to vote neutrally on the sheriff’s removal. 

Estrada noted that the Board of Supervisors are “a clean slate, as far as it relates to the analysis that these procedures have in mind,” meaning that their voting decisions should be confined to the evidence presented from now on, including in the intent to remove and the under-oath hearing.

The board’s action is one step “in the long march toward accountability,” the deputy and sergeants unions said in a statement. 

“The Office of Sheriff’s Sergeants and Deputy Sheriff’s Association look forward to finally turning the page on this sordid affair and devoting our full energy where it belongs: in service to our community,” the statement reads. 

Much of the weight of the effort to remove Corpus predicates on an investigative report conducted over four months by retired Judge LaDoris Cordell which outlined evidence of abuse of power, retaliation and conflicts of interest. Corpus’ attorneys have suggested this report has no value because the interviews were not tape recorded, and hired their own former judge to question Cordell’s investigation. 

The District Attorney’s Office is investigating the alleged criminal offenses outlined in Cordell’s reports, but District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe has not disclosed when those findings will be released, just that they would be presented all at once.  

The matter of finding Corpus’ successor has yet to be discussed publicly by county officials or Sheriff’s Office personnel. The Board of Supervisors may choose between appointing someone or conducting a special election, according to the county charter. 

The successor would serve for the remainder of Corpus’ term, which ends in December 2028.