Hundreds of people arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor crimes in Alameda County will avoid potential punishment after prosecutors failed to review their cases before the deadline for charging, the Chronicle has learned.

The allegations made in the cases that can no longer go to court are wide-ranging. Among them: A woman was found in a stolen car, carrying brass knuckles. A driver who slammed into three parked vehicles tested at a 0.22% blood-alcohol level, nearly three times the legal limit. A man tried to use a fake receipt to return nearly $800 worth of Home Depot merchandise he hadn’t purchased.

Representatives for District Attorney Pamela Price, who took office in January 2023 and is fighting a recall attempt, acknowledged a backlog of cases in need of review and blamed the previous administration for the problem. Price’s predecessor, Nancy O’Malley, denied this claim.

The suspects in the cases were either arrested or issued a misdemeanor citation by police, who filed reports before turning the cases over to the DA’s office for review. Prosecutors must decide what, if any, charges to file, and they have a limited amount of time to do so. Misdemeanor cases must be filed within a year of the alleged offense, while felonies are given three years or more, depending on the severity.

But since the beginning of last year, more than 1,000 misdemeanor criminal cases passed the statute of limitations, essentially expiring without a decision by prosecutors, according to...

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