In Oakley, Saturday evening, a group of community members gathered for a press conference and to start gathering signatures for their effort to recall Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton.
Among the supporters calling to oust the DA are families who feel Becton's office didn't pursue justice for their loved ones.
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WATCH HERE"The failure of our judicial system did not just fail my family, it continues to fail families throughout our community," said Josie Martinez at the press conference Saturday. Martinez's son, Otilio "Nico" Martinez, died in 2016 after being shot by dozens of rounds of gunfire as he was walking home through his Richmond neighborhood.
The supporters of this recall are making a push to gather signatures to put the recall before voters. They need to gather signatures from 72,000 Contra Costa County voters to do that. Organizers said they have 160 days to gather those signatures, as of last week.
This week, Becton launched her own campaign opposing the recall effort. In messages issued by her campaign, Becton is urging the public not to sign the recall effort and also soliciting donations to continue pushing back. Becton has served as Contra Costa County District Attorney since 2017.
She issued a statement through her campaign, saying in part, "Special interests want to roll back our progress with a wasteful, misguided recall."
"They are weaponizing fear, distorting facts and exploiting victims—not to serve our community, but to push their own agenda," Becton continued.
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Gwyn Gabe, the father of Alexis Gabe, is active in the recall effort and objected to that statement from Becton.
“We are the victims, how could we be taking advantage of the victims?" he said.
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SIGN UP Gabe's daughter, Alexis Gabe, went missing in January 2022, and her remains were found later that year in remote Amador County.
Gwyn Gabe and his family members wanted to see Becton's office file criminal charges against the mother of the man accused of killing Alexis back in 2022. But Becton's office declined, citing insufficient evidence.
"We were hoping to be the last ones she’s going to hurt," Gwyn Gabe said Saturday.
Organizers of the recall are optimistic, citing the successful recall of Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price in November of 2024 and the recall of San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin in 2022. Some of the organizers of the effort to recall Becton said they had been involved in the effort to recall Price as well.
The county has said that if this recall makes it to the ballot, a special election would cost around 8 million dollars.
