The brother-in-law of fallen San Francisco police officer Isaac Espinoza said he’s voting for Donald Trump — and that his own family’s tragedy makes it personal.
Edgar Mendez said in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com that District Attorney Kamala Harris is the reason Espinoza’s killer was not prosecuted according to the law.
Despite pressure from several Democrats in California to adopt the death penalty, Harris stuck to a campaign promise and ensured that 22-year-old gang member David Hill received a life sentence without parole. Hill shot the 29-year-old man dead with an AK-47 during a routine traffic stop.
Harris, who had been in office for only three months, appeared on camera to announce her decision at a press conference three days after the murder. She did not seek advice from the victim’s family or tell them in advance.
“People need to know what it was like when my brother-in-law passed away in 2004,” Mendez, 45, told DailyMail.com.
Edgar Mendez, 45, said District Attorney Kamala Harris is the reason Espinoza’s killer has not been prosecuted to the full extent of the law
Isaac Espinoza was a 29-year-old San Francisco police officer when he was shot during a routine traffic stop in 2004
“She didn’t even call us before she decided whether to seek the death penalty,” he said.
“She just announced it. She seemed more focused on fulfilling a campaign promise than she was on showing compassion, reaching out to family, and really being on the side of justice.”
In 2019, Espinoza’s widow Renata Espinoza expressed her anger toward Harris during her last failed campaign for president.
“I don’t understand why she said that on camera without talking to the family,” she said CNN. “You can’t wait until he’s buried, can you?”
“I felt like she had taken something from us,” she added.
“She had just taken justice from us. From Isaac. She only thought about herself. I couldn’t understand why. I couldn’t believe that she had gone ahead and made up her mind not to seek the death penalty for my husband.”
Earlier this week, Republican Steve Cooley, who defeated Harris in the 2010 election for California attorney general, cited the Espinoza case as one of the top reasons not to vote for Harris in this year’s presidential election.
“I think she is totally unfit and her election could be the worst thing that happens to my country in my lifetime,” Cooley, 77, told DailyMail.com
In 2024, the Trump campaign, which has sought to make law and order a central theme of the race, is attempting to portray Harris as a failed prosecutor. Conservative commentators, meanwhile, have held up the Espinoza case as a case study in Harris’s weakness on criminality.
The officer’s widow, who still lives in the San Francisco suburbs, has been inundated with calls and visits from the media lately, but has so far declined interview requests.
Harris’ handling of the 2004 case is still relevant in this campaign because it shows the callousness of her leadership, as well as her tendency to pivot when the political winds shift, Mendez charges.
Hill, then a 22-year-old gang member, was sentenced to life in prison for Espinoza’s murder
She agreed to have her brother speak to DailyMail.com.
“I was there at the memorial,” said Mendez, herself a conservative. “Even Senator Diane Feinstein said at the service that if there was ever a circumstance for the death penalty, this was it. Police officers stood up and cheered.”
“Even people in her own party agreed that this was the wrong decision,” Mendez added. “Harris has angered a lot of people.
“Of course it was frustrating for us, for the police and also for Isaac’s family. But also important for us as a family was the fact that she didn’t even bother to call us.”
In 2014, Harris softened her hardline stance when California’s death penalty was declared unconstitutional. As attorney general, she appealed the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals, which overturned the lower court’s ruling.
Mendez said Harris’ handling of the 2004 case is still relevant in this campaign because it demonstrates the callousness of the vice president’s leadership and her tendency to change course when the political winds shift.
“You see it in the news today, how she suddenly changed her position on everything from gun control to the border to fracking,” Mendez said.
In 2019, Renata Espinoza, the widow of the slain police officer, said she did not understand why Harris did not want to seek the death penalty for her husband.
“We certainly do not support Harris in this election. We proudly support President Trump,” Mendez told DailyMail.com
“She’s a typical politician, in my eyes,” he added. “She’ll do or say anything to become president.”
“But when Isaac passed away in 2004, it was certainly not a time to take a political stand,” he continued. “It was a time to be on the side of justice. And she failed that test.
‘And now all we hear from the Democratic side is that Trump is a ‘threat to democracy.’
“Democracy was ignored in 2004 when Kamala Harris decided not to pursue what the state described as special circumstances regarding the death of a police officer,” Mendez said.
“We are certainly not endorsing Harris in this election,” he said. “We are proudly endorsing President Trump. We believe he is the better option for us and for law enforcement locally and across the country.”
