Two men charged with burning a Black woman’s body in California are free because of the Antioch police’s bigoted text scandal that resulted in suspensions for almost half the department.
Charges against Ashton Montalvo and Deangelo Boone, who were accused of throwing 25-year-old Mykaella Elizabeth Sharlman’s body in the trash and setting it on fire last October, were dropped because several police officers that worked the case were embroiled in the scandal.
The Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office said the prosecution “relied heavily” on the investigative work of police officers associated with racist texts.
“After thoroughly reviewing the officers’ role in this case, applying relevant legal principles and considering ethical responsibilities, the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office no longer has confidence in the integrity of this prosecution,” the DA’s office said in a statement. “Our office extends our deepest sympathies to the family of Mykaella Sharlman, and we aspire to renew this prosecution if presented with the opportunity to do so. “
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Sharlman died from a fentanyl overdose in mid-October 2022, according to authorities, and Montalvo and Boone allegedly found her on a walking trail on Oct. 17, 2022, and set her body on fire. They pleaded not guilty to charges of mutilation and arson.
Sharlman’s family released an emotional video on Facebook last week in which they talked about her and the devastating toll her death took on them.
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“My mom walked into the funeral and had to see a shell of a body, charred with half of a face, and that was the last image we saw in our head of what we once knew was our sister, our daughter, our cousin, our aunt,” Sharlman’s sister, Nicole Eason, said through tears. “There was nothing left that resembled Mykaella Elizabeth Sharlman.”
The bigoted text scandal
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