By MES Dispatch Staff
The Briefing
- • Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen dismissed a murder indictment on June 6, 2026, against former LAPD officer Clifford Proctor, who fatally shot unarmed 29-year-old Brendon Glenn in Venice Beach in May 2015.
- • Judge Coen ruled that prosecutors failed to meet the legal standard for a murder charge and failed to present exculpatory evidence to the 2024 grand jury that returned the indictment.
- • The dismissal was granted over the objection of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office; the statute of limitations on manslaughter — the charge widely regarded as most appropriate to the case — had already expired before the indictment was sought.
- • Proctor, 60, was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in October 2025 while attempting to board an international flight, apparently unaware a warrant had been issued for his arrest; the case was reported to have languished for nearly a year under current District Attorney Nathan Hochman.
- • Glenn was shot twice in the back during an attempted arrest; Proctor’s partner at the time told investigators he did not believe Glenn was reaching for his weapon, and video evidence from the scene does not show Glenn doing so.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge dismissed a murder indictment against former LAPD officer Clifford Proctor on June 6, 2026, in connection with the May 2015 fatal shooting of Brendon Glenn, an unarmed 29-year-old homeless man, on Venice Beach — ending an 11-year legal saga marked by repeated prosecutorial delays and disputed evidence.
Judge Ronald S. Coen ruled that the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office failed to meet the legal threshold for a murder charge and failed to disclose exculpatory evidence to the 2024 grand jury that returned the indictment against Proctor. Coen stated from the bench that the evidence did not support a finding that Proctor acted with malice — a required element of any murder charge. The dismissal was granted over the formal objection of the district attorney’s office.
The shooting occurred in May 2015 after Proctor and his partner, Jonathan Kawahara, responded to calls about Glenn and his dog causing a disturbance near a Venice Beach bar. Glenn was refused entry at a second bar and a struggle ensued when officers moved to arrest him. Proctor shot Glenn twice in the back. Proctor maintained through counsel that he believed Glenn was reaching for Kawahara’s service weapon. However, Kawahara told investigators he did not believe Glenn was going for his gun at the time of the shooting, and video evidence from the scene does not show Glenn reaching for the weapon.
The case accumulated a lengthy and disputed legal history before the 2024 indictment. Then-District Attorney Jackie Lacey declined to file charges in 2018, even after former LAPD Chief Charlie Beck publicly called for at least a manslaughter charge. When District Attorney George Gascón took office in 2020 on a police accountability platform, he appointed special prosecutor Lawrence Middleton to reexamine a number of Lacey-era decisions in fatal officer-involved shootings, including the Glenn case. Middleton secured the murder indictment in late 2024, as Gascón’s tenure was concluding. By that time, the statute of limitations on manslaughter had long since expired, leaving murder as the only available charge.
Proctor, 60, was arrested in October 2025 by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents as he attempted to board an international flight, apparently unaware a warrant had been issued for his arrest. Reports indicated the case had seen little movement during nearly the entirety of current District Attorney Nathan Hochman’s first year in office. A spokesperson for the district attorney’s office did not immediately respond to a media request for comment following the ruling. Following the dismissal, Proctor stated outside the courtroom that he intended to move forward with his life after more than a decade of legal proceedings.