It took a federal jury an hour to convict a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy of utilizing extreme drive after he assaulted and pepper-sprayed a girl exterior a grocery store in Lancaster in 2023.
The prosecutors made their case in a three-day trial in February, finally persuading jurors to search out Trevor Kirk responsible of a felony depend of deprivation of rights below coloration of regulation. Kirk confronted as much as 10 years in jail.
However on Monday, U.S. District Choose Stephen V. Wilson sentenced Kirk to 4 months in jail, after final week granting the federal government’s request to dismiss the felony cost. With that dismissal, Kirk confronted as much as a 12 months in jail.
Forward of sentencing, the federal government had requested probation that included three months of house detention and 200 hours of group service. The protection staff requested for a time period of two months of house confinement and 300 hours of group service.
“For my part, the jury verdict was absolutely supported and the case was not unfairly argued, as the federal government at some early level argued,” Wilson mentioned after handing down his sentence. “The job of a police officer is a really troublesome one … however with these components in thoughts, there’s a accountability to behave appropriately.”
Kirk declined to talk in the course of the sentencing listening to. Tom Yu, an legal professional representing Kirk, mentioned they plan to enchantment Wilson’s earlier denial of their movement for an acquittal.
The sentencing capped a controversial case that noticed the federal authorities abandon a conviction and take the extremely uncommon authorized step of providing Kirk a misdemeanor plea deal after jurors had spoken. That plea deal performed a job within the resignation of a number of federal prosecutors final month and raised considerations over how the workplace will deal with pending circumstances in opposition to regulation enforcement.
The post-trial plea settlement landed the identical week Trump issued an government order vowing to “unleash” American regulation enforcement, and it adopted different current controversies which have raised alarms in regards to the eroding independence of the U.S. Justice Division below the Trump Administration.
Seated within the entrance row of the packed courtroom Monday was U.S. Atty. for Los Angeles Invoice Essayli, a staunch Trump ally and hard-line conservative who was appointed in April and below whom the felony verdict unraveled.
Approached after the listening to, Essayli declined to remark.
An indictment
A federal jury indicted Kirk final September in reference to a June 2023 incident, wherein the deputy — who was responding to a theft report — threw a girl to the bottom and pepper-sprayed her within the face whereas she filmed him exterior a Lancaster WinCo.
Though the lady matched the outline of a suspect Kirk had obtained from a dispatcher, she was not armed or committing against the law when he confronted her, court docket data present.
Earlier than the case went to trial, in keeping with a movement filed by Asst. U.S. Atty. Robert J. Keenan, the federal government was keen to enter right into a plea settlement that will have allowed Kirk to plead to a misdemeanor. Kirk as a substitute took his possibilities on a jury trial and misplaced.
In January, Nick Wilson, founding father of a first-responder advocacy group and spokesperson for the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Skilled Assn., wrote to Trump urging him to intervene earlier than the case went to trial. Within the letter, he mentioned left-wing activists needed to make an instance of Kirk.
“This case is about greater than only one deputy, it’s in regards to the survival of regulation and order in America,” he wrote, in keeping with screenshots of the letter posted on social media. “If the novel left can destroy the profession of a peace officer for merely doing his job, no officer is secure.”
The trial went forward anyway.
In his opening assertion on Feb. 4, Asst. U.S. Atty. Brian R. Faerstein informed jurors that Kirk had used extreme drive in opposition to the sufferer, Jacy Houseton, by slamming her to the bottom and pepper spraying her “when it was pointless to take action.”
“On the finish of this trial, the US will ask you to carry the defendant accountable for abusing his energy and authority,” Faerstein mentioned.
Tom Yu, Kirk’s legal professional, informed the jury that Kirk had relied on his coaching to take care of a “resistant suspect.”
“There’s a world of distinction between a use of drive and extreme drive,” he mentioned.
Two days later, the jury returned with a responsible verdict.
A brand new U.S. legal professional
Essayli was sworn in as the brand new U.S. legal professional on April 2. The next week, prosecutors on the Kirk case filed a movement to delay the sentencing listening to as a result of Essayli needed to evaluate the case.
When requested in regards to the evaluate, the U.S. legal professional’s workplace mentioned former U.S. Atty. Martin Estrada in March 2023 established an government place inside the workplace to deal with ethics and post-conviction points.
The workplace mentioned it will get requests to evaluate circumstances pre-and post-conviction, however declined to touch upon what number of circumstances have been reviewed since 2023. Estrada didn’t reply to an e mail looking for touch upon the Kirk case final week and declined to talk to a Instances reporter when approached in particular person.
Quickly after his appointment, Essayli requested that the Riverside County district legal professional’s workplace “conduct an impartial and neutral evaluate of the case and proof within the Kirk matter,” in keeping with District Lawyer Mike Hestrin.
“I assigned a staff of skilled investigators and prosecutors to totally evaluate the proof and case particulars, evaluating what, if any, expenses we’d take into account for prosecution had the case been submitted to us for potential submitting,” Hestrin mentioned in an announcement.
The U.S. legal professional’s workplace declined to touch upon why Essayli concerned the Riverside County district legal professional’s workplace in a federal case out of Lancaster. A authorized professional known as the transfer extremely uncommon.
“I feel it appears like he was making an attempt to shore up proof to search out the outcome he was on the lookout for. The truth that he went exterior the workplace is a sign he wasn’t getting the help that he needed from the prosecutors inside the workplace,” mentioned Carley Palmer, a former federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, who’s now a associate at Halpern Could Ybarra Gelberg LLP.
Given the allegations of partisanship swirling across the case, Palmer additionally questioned why Essayli didn’t ask the Los Angeles County district legal professional’s workplace to guide the evaluate, given Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman’s standing as a political impartial.
“It does look like if you happen to have been on the lookout for further takes on this case, it’d make sense to go to the previous federal prosecutor now working throughout the road now managing the county the place the crime occurred,” mentioned Palmer.
A spokesman for the L.A. County district legal professional’s workplace mentioned Essayli has by no means contacted Hochman in regards to the Kirk case.
In April, Wilson denied a movement from Yu for an acquittal. The decide dominated that footage of the incident was ample proof for a jury to search out that Kirk used “objectively unreasonable drive.”
On April 22, the decide refused the federal government’s request to postpone Kirk’s sentencing.
Two days later, in keeping with Hestrin, the Riverside County prosecutors and investigators Essayli tapped to evaluate the case attended a gathering in L.A. with the U.S. legal professional and his employees to current their findings and proposals.
When requested what these findings and proposals have been, the Riverside County district legal professional’s workplace referred that query to the U.S. legal professional’s workplace, which declined to remark.
On Could 1, the federal government filed a “post-trial” plea settlement below which Kirk would plead responsible to misdemeanor violation of deprivation of rights below coloration of regulation. The downgrade to a misdemeanor is critical as Kirk would have misplaced the suitable to be a regulation enforcement officer or personal a gun with a felony conviction.
The one assistant U.S. legal professional who signed off on the plea settlement, Robert J. Keenan, was not beforehand concerned within the case. The following day, the unique prosecutors concerned all withdrew from the case.
Final week, Wilson rejected the plea settlement — which really helpful that Kirk be sentenced to probation. However the decide granted the prosecution’s movement to minimize the fees in opposition to the deputy to a misdemeanor — regardless of the jury conviction.
Sentencing
Greater than 50 folks packed the courtroom for the sentencing listening to Monday, together with former Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who has championed Kirk’s case on-line. Earlier than the continuing started, supporters embraced Kirk, who wore a cross-shaped pin that bore the American flag.
Because the listening to acquired underway, Kirk’s legal professional informed the decide that each he and the federal government had not too long ago been knowledgeable that legal professional Caree Harper, who has represented Houseton, filed a writ with the U.S. ninth Circuit Court docket of Appeals looking for a keep of the proceedings.
Wilson briefly stepped away to find out whether or not that will influence the listening to however finally determined to proceed.
Keenan informed the decide that the federal government believed a jail sentence to be “pointless” and “unreasonable.”
In handing down his sentence, Wilson mentioned that, in his view and the jury’s view, Kirk’s actions have been “simply plain inexplicable.” He mentioned that Kirk “knew there was no hazard to himself or anybody else,” earlier than he pepper sprayed Houseton.
“This was fairly terrible,” Wilson mentioned. “Sure, it wasn’t as horrible as many circumstances or most circumstances I see, however that is the case earlier than. For my part, it might’t go unpunished … That is the way in which the court docket feels the ends of justice are achieved.”
Kirk agreed to give up himself on Aug. 28.
