In a decidedly mixed verdict that came in just around 3 PM in the downtown Los Angeles federal courtroom of Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell, the 12-person jury in the jail brutality trial of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies Joey Aguiar and Mariano Ramirez, found each of the deputies not guilty of one count, guilty on anther count, and on a third count—which is arguably the most important—the jury split, with 10 jurors voting for guilt, two holding out for not guiltY.
The specifics of the verdict are as follows:
Not guilty for both deputies on Count 1, which was the charge of conspiracy to violate inmate Bret Phillips’ civil rights by agreeing to “injure, oppress, threaten and intimidate” him.
Guilty on Counts 3 and 4, which means that both Ramirez (in Count 3) and Aguiar (in Count 4) were found to have written false reports saying that inmate Phillips had attempted to attack the deputies.
On Count 2, which was basically the count alleging that Ramirez and Aguiar had assaulted Mr. Phillips, 10 of the jurors voted that the deputies had committed assault-to-produce-bodily-injury, two voted that the deputies had not. Thus a mistrial on Count 2 was declared.
This means the government could choose to try the assault count again—or not.
Prosecution attorney Jennifer Williams stated that the government was thinking very carefully about whether to try the two deputies again.
Being guilty of lying by writing false reports prove that their integrity is gone. Harsh but true, basically means they can’t be trusted. The penalty speaks for itself. There are many applicants who are prepared to take their spot in the small family of law enforcement. Sad that they were trained in such a manner to cause their own demise and detriment concerning their career. They should have settled. Their attorney gambled and lost. No winners in that trial.
Don’t be surprised if the Feds file again, sentencing in April is delayed until conclusion of second trial or, plea. Supervisors and managers at MCJ allowed this bullshit to spin out of control to please the little man. They sacrificed young and impressionable deputies with the nod and ink to provide the illusion that “everyone is happy, highly motivated, morale is at an all time high and they are going to support you.” All a sick and warped circle jerk. Hey Ramirez and Aguilar, where are all of those folks now?
Wonder if Sheriff McDonnell slaps them on the wrist or kick them in the ass.
In less than a year a Republican will be sworn in as President, and there will be no more Federal prosecutions for this kind of thing.
Then LASD will revert back to the good old days:
http://www.whenlawmenlie.com
Custody ink…Are you fucking serious? Who in the eff would get Custody ink?
@ 5. Terri. I said the same thing ahout custody ink and another deputy from MCJ verified that. Yes during the Cruz and Tanaka era which included the Christmas Party Melee….a lot of them were inked with job locations and floors they worked on.
The inks been around since PT placed all of his fools at MCJ. When you have a gang mentality, you tend to do the same thing. Can you imagine how much ink you could get if you were working the jails for several years. Then the patrol stuff, then special assignments and so on. The ink thing is out of control. Did the MCJ personnel get a xmas tree tat after the party for bashing the other deps?
Somehow, don’t ask me how, I worked MCJ for 3 years, patrol (as a Deputy, Sergeant, Lieutenant) for decades from the west side to the east side, Narco for almost a decade, took one or two people to jail on an “obs” felony arrest, and I failed to obtain one tattoo. I now realize my career was incomplete and I must not have been respected. Went two ranks higher than I ever really thought about going, but by far the best rank was being a deputy. When I worked MCJ we just considered ourselves jail deputies, still needing to go to patrol to become a “real Deputy.” I guess that was wrongful thinking.