photo credit: Noah Abrams/KRCB
Sonoma County DA Carla Rodriguez.

After a months-long wait, Sonoma County's district attorney announced this week there would be no criminal charges against a Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy who shot and killed a farmworker in the hills outside of Healdsburg close to 15 months ago.

In the nearly hour long press conference, District Attorney Carla Rodriguez laid out the reasons her officer wouldn't charge the deputy who shot and killed David Pelaez-Chavez on the morning of July 29, 2022.

"If our office were to take this case to trial, we cannot prove that deputies actions were not reasonable and that is the legal analysis," Rodriguez told a small crowd of reporters at the Tuesday afternoon press conference.

Rodriguez began by offering condolences to the family of Pelaez-Chavez.

Her presentation painted a somber and tragic picture of his final days, but she said the law made her final conclusion clear.

"Both deputies were interviewed and they were both very clear that that they were in fear of being killed," Rodriguez said. "They were in fear of being hit by a rock or a hammer or a till, or a combination of all three. They were dealing with a man that was being aggressive and we could not overcome this legal defense that."

That Pelaez-Chavez was allegedly holding items in his hands when he was shot was cited as a major factor in the decision not to bring charges from Rodriguez's office. And the state attorney general's office, who concluded the rock, hammer and till constituted weapons, and declined to take up the case due to Pelaez-Chavez being "armed."

Rodriguez said testimony and a report from an expert witness on officer involved shootings were also factors in the decision.

"Bottom line, I did not want to hire someone who I would call a rubber stamp," Rodriguez said. "Jeffrey Noble was provided with everything that we had."

Rodriguez said Noble concluded the deputy was justified in killing Pelaez-Chavez given the circumstances of the encounter.