A defense motion in the felony drug case against Lonnie Jacobs is asking a Los Angeles County judge to examine whether the Long Beach Police Department withheld impeachment evidence about former officer Erik Suarez. The filing alleges that the department failed for nearly seven years to disclose Suarez’s Georgia criminal case, including a 2022 misdemeanor battery conviction, even though Suarez investigated the police response that led to Jacobs’ arrest.
The underlying dispute began after Long Beach officers responded in March 2025 to a report of a person with a gun near 52nd Street and Atlantic Boulevard. Jacobs was arrested after police investigated an alleged robbery involving a black Dodge Sprinter van. He was not charged with threatening the alleged robbery victim, while his brother, Lamar Jacobs, was not charged in the case, according to reporting on the court filings by LAist.
Jacobs now faces a separate felony allegation that he brought cocaine into a detention facility, a charge to which he has pleaded not guilty. His court-appointed lawyer, Scott Sanders, argues that information about Suarez could have been used to challenge the officer’s credibility and may be relevant to other prosecutions in which Suarez participated. Those broader implications remain allegations; the court has not determined whether Long Beach withheld required discovery or what remedy would follow.
What the Georgia conviction adds to the dispute
Suarez was indicted in Cobb County, Georgia, in 2021 after an August 2019 assault outside a Waffle House in Marietta. Prosecutors initially pursued felony aggravated-battery counts, but Suarez pleaded guilty in November 2022 to reduced misdemeanor battery charges and received probation, a stay-away order and an anger-management requirement, according to LAist’s account of the case.
The legal question is not simply whether an officer has a criminal record. Under Brady v. Maryland and related California procedures, prosecutors must disclose material evidence favorable to the defense, including information that could impeach a prosecution witness. In a 2015 decision, the California Supreme Court said prosecutors handling potentially exculpatory material in confidential police personnel files satisfy their Brady duty by informing the defense what the police department reported about the potentially relevant records, as explained in People v. Superior Court.
A disclosure system with multiple handoffs
The Jacobs motion places attention on the handoff between police agencies and prosecutors: an agency must identify potentially relevant officer information, prosecutors must evaluate its significance, and the defense must receive material evidence under the applicable rules. The defense alleges that this process failed in Suarez’s case. Long Beach police have not publicly resolved the allegation in the materials reviewed for this article.
Long Beach does have a formal oversight structure, but its existence does not establish that it reviewed or identified the Suarez matter. City budget documents say the Police Oversight Department was created through a 2022 amendment to City Charter Article XIA and is managed by a director working with a Police Oversight Commission. Its audit function reviews police operations, policies, procedures and training, while its investigations function reviews complaint cases for objectivity, thoroughness and timeliness, according to Long Beach records.
The department reported that it completed 234 investigations in 2024, with 35 cases involving one or more sustained allegations, or 15% of completed cases, in a January 2026 response to oversight recommendations. That figure concerns completed internal investigations generally; it does not show how many involved evidence disclosure, officer credibility or Brady-related issues, according to the department’s memorandum.
What statewide data can—and cannot—show
California’s statewide officer-certification system provides a separate frame for evaluating serious misconduct. Senate Bill 2 took effect on Jan. 1, 2022, establishing a certification and decertification program for certain peace officers, according to a California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training guide. POST says certification may be suspended or revoked for serious misconduct committed while an officer is employed.
POST reported receiving more than 22,000 reports of alleged serious misconduct during the system’s early implementation. The agency says those reports can come from public complaints or mandatory reporting by law-enforcement agencies, so the total is not a count of officers found responsible and does not show how many cases ended in suspension or decertification, according to POST’s 2023 annual report and its decertification guide.
Suarez resigned from the Long Beach department in June 2026 after defense attorneys sought to subpoena him, according to the department’s account reported by LAist. His resignation does not resolve whether the alleged nondisclosure affected Jacobs’ case or any other prosecution. Those questions depend on the court’s review of the filings, the records sought by the defense and the agencies’ responses.
