PHOENIX — A Phoenix sergeant who colluded with prosecutors to falsely charge a group of police protesters as a criminal street gang has been added to the so-called “Brady” list.
Sgt. Doug McBride, a key figure in Phoenix’s protest response team, was listed on the latest version of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office “Brady” list, which was released to ABC15 on Friday.
A spokesperson confirmed McBride was added to the list on June 8, 2021.
His placement on the list came the week after a superior court judge permanently dismissed the protesters’ gang charges in a scathing ruling that specifically named McBride for “egregious misconduct” in the case.
“Both Sgt. McBride and (MCAO prosecutor April Sponsel) colluded in their efforts to present the grand jury with false information regarding a non-existent gang,” according to the judge’s order.
The court also found that the testimony presented to obtain the charges was “absurd”, “ridiculous,” “disingenuous” and “baffling.”
“Brady” lists track officers with histories of dishonesty, criminal actions, biases and other integrity concerns.
ABC15 has spent months exposing a series of exaggerations, lies, and dubious evidence in protest cases brought by Phoenix police and county prosecutors throughout 2020.
In the gang case, McBride and Sponsel told the grand jury that the group could be compared to notorious gangs like the Bloods, Crips and Hells Angels, court records show.
The officials also testified that the protesters met the definition of a criminal street gang for three reasons: they wore mostly black, they carried umbrellas and they chanted “All Cops are Bastards.”
For that, police and prosecutors designated them as the “ACAB” gang.
The judge’s order called the testimony “clearly false, misleading, and inflammatory.”
“This Court cannot begin to fathom how co-defendants wearing the color black—especially at a time when people protested that Black Lives Matter and wore black clothing—proved membership in a gang,” according to the order. “Compounding the Court’s bafflement is the analogy then given to the grand jury about colors chosen by the Crips and the Bloods—two well-known, well-documented, and feared gangs.”
In a separate news investigation, ABC15 has reported extensively on Arizona's "Brady" lists. The station produced the state’s first-ever comprehensive database.
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office also sent Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams a letter in April outlining credibility concerns with five different officers in the protest cases.
The letter asked for investigations into their written statements and court testimony for possible placement on the “Brady” list. It listed four specific concerns with McBride in the cases.
Contact ABC15 Investigator Dave Biscobing at Dave@abc15.com.
