The brother-in-law of fallen San Francisco cop Isaac Espinoza said he’s voting for Donald Trump – and that his own family’s tragedy makes this personal.
Speaking exclusively with DailyMail.com, Edgar Mendez said District Attorney Kamala Harris is the reason Espinoza’s killer was not prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Despite pressure from several California Democrats to bring the death penalty, Harris held firm to a campaign pledge and secured a sentence of life without parole for 22-year-old gang member David Hill, who gunned down the 29-year-old with an AK-47 during a routine traffic stop.
Harris, who was just three months into office, went on camera just three days after the killing to announce her decision in a press conference, without seeking input from the victim’s family or even telling them in advance.
‘People need to know what it was like back in 2004 when my brother-in-law passed away,’ Mendez, 45, told DailyMail.com.
Edgar Mendez, 45, said District Attorney Kamala Harris is the reason Espinoza’s killer was not prosecuted to the full extent of the law
Isaac Espinoza was a 29-year-old San Francisco cop when he was gunned down during a routine traffic stop in 2004
‘She didn’t even give us a call before she decided whether she was going to seek the death penalty,’ he said.
‘She just went ahead and announced it. She seemed more focused on fulfilling a campaign promise as opposed to showing compassion, reaching out to family, and really being on the side of justice.’
In 2019, Espinoza’s widow Renata Espinoza expressed her anger at Harris during her last failed campaign for president.
‘I don’t understand why she went on camera to say that without talking to the family,’ she told CNN. ‘It’s like, you can’t even wait till he’s buried?’
‘I felt like she had just taken something from us,’ she added.
‘She had just taken justice from us. From Isaac. She was only thinking of herself. I couldn’t understand why. I was in disbelief that she had gone on and already made her decision to not seek the death penalty for my husband.’
Earlier this week Republican Steve Cooley, who Harris beat in the 2010 election for California’s Attorney General, quoted the Espinoza case as a main reason not to vote for Harris in this year’s presidential election.
‘I think she’s wholly unqualified and that her election could be the worst thing that happens in my lifetime to our nation,’ Cooley, 77, told DailyMail.com
In 2024, the Trump campaign, trying to make law and order a central issue in the race, are depicting Harris as a failed prosecutor. Conservative commentators, meanwhile, have cited the Espinoza case as a case study of Harris’s weakness on crime.
The officer’s widow, still living on the outskirts of San Francisco, has recently been bombarded with media calls and visits, but has so far declined interview requests.
Harris’s handling of the 2004 case is still relevant in this campaign because it shows the callousness of her leadership as well her tendency to pivot when political winds change, Mendez charges
Hill, then a 22-year-old gang member, was sentenced to life in prison for killing Espinoza
She agreed to let her brother speak with DailyMail.com.
‘I was there at the memorial,’ said Mendez, himself a conservative. ‘Even Senator Diane Feinstein said at the service that if ever there ever was a circumstance for the death penalty, this was it. Police officers stood up and cheered.’
‘Even people in her own party agreed this was a wrong decision,’ Mendez added. ‘Harris upset a lot of people.
‘Obviously, it was frustrating for us, for the police department, and for Isaac’s family as well. But also important to us as a family was the fact that she didn’t even bother to call us.’
In 2014, Harris eased her hardline stance when California’s death penalty was ruled unconstitutional. As Attorney General, she appealed the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals, which overturned the lower court ruling.
Mendez said Harris’s handling of the 2004 case is still relevant in this campaign because it just shows the callousness of the vice-president’s leadership as well her tendency to pivot when political winds change.
‘You see it in the news cycle today, how she suddenly changed her stance on everything from gun control to the border to fracking,’ Mendez said.
In 2019, Renata Espinoza, the slain police officer ‘s widow, said she didn’t understand why Harris wouldn’t pursue the death penalty for her husband
‘We’re certainly not supporting Harris in this election. We are proudly supporting President Trump,’ Mendez told DailyMail.com
‘She’s a typical politician, in my point of view,’ he added. ‘She will do or say anything to become president.’
‘However, in 2004 when Isaac passed away, it certainly wasn’t a time to take a political stance,’ he continued. ‘It was a time to stand on the side of justice. And she failed that test.
‘And now these days, all we’ve been hearing from the Democratic side is how Trump is a ‘threat to Democracy”.
‘Democracy was ignored in 2004 when Kamala Harris opted not to move forward with what the state decided were special circumstances with the death of a police officer,’ Mendez said.
‘We’re certainly not supporting Harris in this election,’ he said. ‘We are proudly supporting President Trump. We believe he’s the better option for us and for police departments locally and throughout the country as well.’