A deputy district attorney has accused DA Ursula Jones Dickson and other senior attorneys in the DA’s office of retaliating against her after she tried to alert them to what she describes as ethical breaches and violations of the law.
In a 42-page whistleblower complaint filed with the county in February, Deputy District Attorney Alexandra Grayner claims there was a serious conflict of interest between the DA’s office and the Alameda County Civil Grand Jury that wasn’t properly addressed in 2021 and 2022, the period immediately preceding her hire. According to Grayner, the DA’s office should have recused itself from its traditional role advising the grand jury because the jury was simultaneously looking into wrongdoing by then-DA Nancy O’Malley and her staff.
Grayner claims in the complaint that the conflict of interest was so stressful that it contributed to the death of the grand jury’s legal advisor, a deputy DA, by suicide in late 2021.
She says she also discovered “systemic and longstanding” problems with how the DA’s office investigates and prosecutes welfare fraud cases. Grayner said some of the practices are tantamount to “extortion,” and she called the issuance of bench warrants in some cases “unlawful.”
Her complaint, a mandatory first step before filing a lawsuit against a government agency, has not previously been reported. The Oaklandside obtained the document through a public records request.
After Jones Dickson was appointed DA in February 2025, Grayner...
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